ChromeOS 126 brings AI-powered digital webcam zoom and seamless Android setup to Chromebooks

There’s Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s macOS, and then there’s Google’s version of a computer-based operating system. The lightweight OS offers a much different computing experience than its resource-heavy counterparts, and its buy-in price is often much cheaper for some unique hardware offerings. Every month, Google’s laptop OS, aptly named ChromeOS after the Google Chrome web browser, gets another update shuffled into its live channel, and June is no different. In addition to some helpful accessibility additions, ChromeOS 126 includes a helpful start-up wizard and enhanced webcam abilities.

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Google’s latest update log for ChromeOS 126 says that, like usual, the latest version will be rolling out across all currently supported Chromebooks in the coming days. Upon downloading, users will get the chance to try out their Chromebook webcam’s new digital zoom feature with the AI-based Super Resolution. Going forward, ChromeOS’ Camera app will support zooming on all built-in Chromebook webcams, even those without optical zoom. Google’s AI tool will enhance the digitally-zoomed image on select “high-performance” Chromebooks. Additionally, new Chromebook purchasers will be able to set up their laptop seamlessly with their Android smartphone, given that both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network, and multi-calendar support has been added to Google Calendar.

ChromeOS 126 adds more than just AI features (which were a massive part of the previous version update of ChromeOS) to its resumé. For people with low vision, Google added a tool that will make the Magnifier follow Select to Speak text. Those with photosensitivity issues will be able to turn off the blinking text cursor, which could help prevent seizures in certain people. Finally, users can turn off the swipe-to-navigate gesture behavior, also known as overscroll.

ChromeOS is a great tool for people looking for a no-frills approach to using a computer as well as students, but its open software can be fun for power users to mess with. It’s not hard to change between the Stable, Beta and Dev channels in ChromeOS, but be warned that switching to developmental channels will force users to sometimes incur bugs that won’t be present in the stable build. If you’ve got an old Windows laptop or MacBook sitting around, you can install ChromeOS Flex to breathe new life into it, or you can buy one of the best Chromebooks of 2024 and utilize the new Android setup feature from ChromeOS 126.