A surprise was in the latest Xbox Insider Alpha Skip-Ahead which was released to testers this past week – the new chromium-based Microsoft Edge web browser makes it first appearance on the Microsoft console platform.

I did go back and check the release notes for this latest Xbox Insider build in the Alpha Skip-Ahead channel, but there is no mention of new Edge getting added.

To be honest, there is not much to see here beyond the browser’s logo alongside legacy Edge in the dashboard.

The browser can be opened although it takes a bit of time to get opened and showing the default start page.

Once the chromium-based browser is opened, you can fully interact with the main browsing space, customize the default start screen, and browse the web. However, any attempt to interact with the chrome at the top of the browser window does not work. The Xbox cursor disappears but you can highlight the various interactive elements/buttons, but they do not respond to any attempts to open menus, etc.

This is obviously the initial stages of starting to get the new browser onto the Xbox console to eventually replace legacy Edge on that platform. The same thing is about to happen on the Windows 10 desktop, so it makes sense that Xbox would follow suit at some point.

This is one to keep an eye on as it works through development and see what features it eventually gains and whether it will have some parity with the desktop version of the browser.

Check out the screenshot gallery below to get a peek at what is showing up in this build.

New Microsoft Edge on Xbox Insider Alpha Skip-Ahead