Google Chrome version 68.0.3405.0, currently a part of the browser's Canary branch for voluntary testers and users, reveals a toggles for a series of visual tweaks for its primary controls up top, among others.
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While none of the changes here are what one would call significant from a user experience standpoint (not as much as the recent touch-optimizations, at least), they signify the general approach Google appears to be taking, with the increased focus on rounding off corners being tested in Google Chrome for Android as well.
The tabs up top and the address bar gain a good deal of curvature and general all-round roundedness, making them reminiscent of older versions of a certain rival browser. Joining the fray is a splash of stark white color on the interface, as opposed to the earlier light-gray. Links in the address bar have also been tweaked, with them being a brighter shade of blue now. This aside, there are also a number of little animations that now pop-up when you hover your mouse over certain buttons, and the three-dot drop down menu button also jiggles a little if there is a pending update or alert.
To enable this change, hit the "refresh" option in the drop down menu under the chrome://flags/#top-chrome-md flag. This flag is currently available only on the Windows version of Chrome Canary, however.
If you'd like to go all in on the other existing Material Design options available as of now to switch on in both the Canary and stable versions of Chrome, go to each of these flags and enable them one by one. Close and re-open your browser to see the changes.
- chrome://flags/#secondary-ui-md
- chrome://flags/#enable-message-center-new-style-notification
- chrome://flags/#enable-md-bookmarks
- chrome://flags/#enable-md-extensions
According to XDA-Developers, Google's reported 'Material Design 2' is still a work in progress.
These changes come after a number of commits to Chromium Gerrit were observed by XDA, outlining visual guidelines that were meant to be followed as part of an even larger overhaul to Chrome, including color and button grid specifications. These commits were made private shortly after, indicating that they weren't meant for the public eye.
Twitter user Owen Williams also noted, along with images that refer to the above overhaul, that in the updated Material Design spec on Chromium Gerrit, the current design paradigm in Chrome is referred to as 'M1', whereas the one that's being tested in Canary here goes by the moniker 'GM2'.
You can download and install Chrome Canary from here. Mind you, you can't set it as your default browser, but you can install it alongside your regular stable-channel Chrome Browser and use it separately.
Source: 9to5Google
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