Experimental VRR scrolling spotted in Microsoft Edge Canary

Why is this important: Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) is primarily known for maintaining a smooth picture in video games by matching the refresh rate of a screen to the frames per second of a game, but other uses have emerged. Now Microsoft is experimenting with it in their web browser.

A few days ago, Reddit user Leopeva64-2 discovered an experimental feature in Microsoft Edge Canary that makes scrolling smoother by increasing the screen refresh rate only while scrolling. It basically brings VRR functionality to the browser. Of course, it requires a display with VRR, AMD FreeSync, or Nvidia G-Sync support.

Edge Canary is an insider version of Microsoft’s browser that allow users to see the latest features developers are working on before they are stable enough for development, beta, or public releases. Canary users can see the scroll acceleration feature by typing edge: // flags in the address bar and finding “Increase screen refresh rate when scrolling” in the list of available experimental features. .

The function is only activated during scrolling to save battery charge. Most of the latest smartphones, tablets, and laptops already do this at the device level, including laptops running Windows 11.

Edge Canary is reviewed almost daily, with the development version updated weekly and the beta around monthly. If Microsoft decides to keep the refresh rate boost feature, it could appear in the January 11 or February 3 beta. Potential stable releases would follow on February 3 and March 3, respectively.