If Apple opens up iOS 17 to third-party browser engines this 12 months, Chrome might be prepared. In accordance with a report from The Register, Google is already engaged on an “experimental software” that brings a Blink-powered browser to iOS.

The undertaking, which is described as a “content material shell iOS port” is getting used “to measure graphics and enter latencies by offering traces for evaluation.” Google insists the browser is not going to be obtainable to customers and the corporate will proceed to abide by Apple’s insurance policies. A spokesperson informed The Register the undertaking is strictly for “experimental” functions.

Nevertheless, it’s exhausting to not learn between the strains. Bloomberg reported final 12 months that Apple might open up iOS 17 in unprecedented methods this fall, together with the allowance of third-party app shops and browser engines in an effort to appease regulatory companies. If that have been to occur, Google would have the ability to construct a real Chrome browser somewhat than a WebKit browser with Chrome styling and options.

In accordance with The Register’s sources inside Google, the code “appears to be like like the beginning of an alternate browser construct, although in skeletal kind” and is lacking a number of vital options to make it a shippable product. Nevertheless, it might positively be prepared by the point iOS 17 ships in September if Apple permits such a factor in its App Retailer.

And it might open the door to different browsers as nicely. A number of Mac browsers use Google’s Blink engine, together with Chrome, Opera, and Courageous. Assuming Google’s experiment is profitable and Apple permits third-party engines in some unspecified time in the future, they’ll doubtless undertake Blink for iOS as nicely, together with Firefox’s Gecko engine.

A Blink browser would deliver the primary actual competitors for Safari on the iPhone. With the identical WebKit engine, there may be little cause to obtain a competing browser apart from syncing, however Google is betting that can change this 12 months.