Chrome is changing where the address bar sits on larger iPhones

Google is working on a new Chrome layout for iPhones with enough screen space to show a tab strip. And if you normally keep the browser’s address bar at the bottom, that larger layout can temporarily move it back to the top.

The change appears in a recent Chromium commit, which adds support for showing Chrome’s tab strip on phone-sized devices with larger windows. Once that layout is active, Chrome places its main toolbar directly underneath the tab strip.

Chrome uses the UIKit size classes of the current window to determine whether there is enough room for the tab strip. A regular-width and regular-height window can qualify for the larger layout.

That makes the change particularly relevant for devices that can dramatically increase the amount of available screen space. Apple’s new foldable iPhone Duo is one example, with Apple saying its inner display gives apps a much larger working area when the device is unfolded.

The part worth paying attention to is what happens to Chrome’s bottom address bar option. When the tab strip is shown, Chrome uses the top-toolbar layout and places the address bar underneath the tabs. The saved bottom address bar preference itself does not appear to be changed, so this looks like a temporary layout override tied to the larger window.

Once Chrome returns to a layout without the tab strip, it can go back to using the user’s normal toolbar preference.

For people who prefer having the address bar within easier reach at the bottom of the screen, that means its position will not stay fixed in every layout. Give Chrome enough room for its tab strip, and the toolbar moves back to the top.