Google Chrome could make product comparisons easier with an AI-powered feature for desktop

• Google is heavily investing in AI, evident in features like Help Me Write and new in-development Chrome capabilities like Product Specs.

• Product Specs will simplify product research by summarizing specifications using AI, with potentially collated displays for easy comparison.

• Chrome is likely to make Product Specifications available across operating systems, because the toggle for it shows up in Chrome Sync settings.

Google has thrown its weight behind AI, and no matter which way we look, we tend to spot various examples of the company's efforts — on Android, Gemini is poised to replace Assistant, writing aids like Help Me Write have greatly simplified Docs and Gmail, while AI is still in nascent stages of integration into Chrome for desktop. Features like Help Me Write , History search and AI theming are in various stages of release, but the browser's latest feature in development could make your next product search far simpler with product summaries.

Looking for new products is never an easy task now, because customers are spoilt for choice and sifting through Amazon listings or brand stores to find the best product for your fit, or the best value-for-money item can be a chore. We're here to pick out the best Android phones and budget phones for you, but way back in May, our reader and Chrome feature spotter @Leopeva64 on X (formerly Twitter) spotted Google developing a new feature called Product Specs.

Product Specs should simplify research by using the summarization prowess of Google's AI to identify and pull the specifications from a product page. You'll just need to right-click the target tab in the browser and select Show Specificationsin the drop-down list. This pulls up a new tab called Product Specifications, where you might see the diagonal gradient fading across the screen — typical loading page behavior for Google's new AI features in Chrome.

Ideally, you can choose the Show Specificationsoption on multiple tabs, and the feature should smartly collate all that data, and simplify comparisons with immediate access to the crucial information in a digestible format. Leopeva64 recently managed to get the feature working in a recent Canary build, at least partially, revealing Google's plans for how the feature will work.

By default, Chrome seems to understand you're researching a new product and data from all the product-related tabs currently open should show up automatically in the Product Specifications tab in a tabular arrangement with product names in the columns and individual specs listed in the rows underneath. You can click the arrow icon for every header to open a drop-down menu listing the currently active tabs, thus allowing you to change the product featured in that column. There's an option to open the product page directly from this new tab as well. Even in early development, the feature seems to work reliably.

This comparative tab group can also be renamed at will, and Chrome will include other options to see all your previous specification comparison lists under chrome:// compare. Since AI is involved, Chrome might also show users a Plus button to add another column, adding a suitable product to your comparison. While our comparison and Leopeva's demonstration may be limited to a spec showdown between gadgets, this feature has the potential for expansion into comparison between things like flight ticket prices, hotel bookings, and used car deals.

More details about this AI-powered feature pour through

Meanwhile, the feature researcher has also spotted a new toggle switch for Product Specificationsunder Manage what you syncin Chrome Settings. This setting showing up here instead of the usual Flags section like most other Canary features could be a sign that Google will make it available on Chrome across operating systems, including Android and desktop. Interestingly, the Chromium source code reveals this toggle has been thrown in with the sync settings because it is a new sync type. That could be a new way of handling feature toggles, but specifically for this section.

We haven't seen any other evidence suggesting this one will show up in other devices, but it should be interesting to see Chrome leverage AI's biggest strength — data handling — to benefit users and save people some time with reliable results.

Chrome Canary (Unstable)

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PRODUCTIVITY

Price: Free

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Google Chrome

Google LLC

COMMUNICATION

Price: Free

4.1

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