Skip to main content

Opera Neon is a web browser for the modern age that is unlike any other

opera neon reimagines webbrowsing operacom big
Image used with permission by copyright holder
It’s hard to believe that Opera, in many ways a precursor to the modern internet browser, is nearing its 21st anniversary. The freeware program began in 1994 as a research program at Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor and branched out into a separate company soon after.

It wasn’t long before Opera Software was releasing versions of its web browser for Apple’s iOS devices, Google’s Android operating system, and even Nintendo’s DS and Wii consoles. Now, nearly two decades later, the company’s turning a page with Opera Neon, a new web browser for the modern age.

Opera calls Neon a “radical re-imagining of what a browser can be,” and it’s not hard to see why. The browser, which launches On January 12, looks nothing like Edge, Safari, or Chrome. In fact, what’s most noticeable about it is what isn’t immediately visible: a traditional task bar, bookmarks bar, and even options menu. Neon is about as minimalist as web browsers come.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

That’s to its arguable benefit. When you launch Neon, it expands to fill your desktop, blending into the background. Tabs take the form of oversized favicon bubbles that inhabit a right-side tab bar. A split-screen function, meanwhile, lets you view two webpages side-by-side in a manner that is very similar to the multi-window modes in Windows and on mobile devices.

But Neon’s ideas go deeper than skin level. There’s a media control panel that puts playback and volume sliders for background videos, audio files, and ads at your fingertips, and a “snap” feature that quickly captures screenshots of webpages.

And under-the-hood optimizations make it fast. Neon uses Opera’s Blink engine. Videos play in a pop-out window, saving the trouble of having to manage a separate window. And an “intelligent system” manages tabs, automatically pushing frequently visited webpages to the top and demoting less-used tabs to the bottom.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Neon’s limitations may dissuade all but the most casual of users from making it their daily driver — it lacks support for Chrome and Firefox extensions, most notably. That’s perhaps why Opera’s billing Neon as a “concept browser.” It won’t — and isn’t meant to — replace Opera’s existing browser. But it’ll receive updates and fixes alongside Opera for the foreseeable future.

Neon is Opera’s first big splash since it was sold to a consortium of Chinese companies last year. The acquisition, led by software company Qihoo 360, saw Opera’s browser, performance, privacy apps, and licensing sold for $600 million.

Opera’s never had the most popular internet browser on the market — it’s commanded less than 10 percent for nearly the past decade — but its innovative features have earned it a loyal fan base. It has introduced ad-blocking, data and video compression, and a built-in VPN. And it’s historically focused on performance.

Where Neon could succeed is in drumming up interest in ongoing development. “[Some] of [Neon’s] features are expected to be added to Opera this spring,” the company wrote in a blog post.

Editors' Recommendations

Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
DuckDuckGo’s new web browser won’t rely on any Chrome technology
Homepage of DuckDuckGo.

DuckDuckGo, the popular privacy-focused search engine, is developing its own desktop browser, as reported by ZDNet. However, what will make DuckDuckGo’s browser unique from other “privacy browsers” is that it won’t be based on Chromium. It’s the latest product from the company encouraging users to switch from Google products such as Chrome.

Pretty much every popular desktop browser is based on Chromium, an open-source project that powers Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, and many others.

Read more
Microsoft backpedals on changing default browsers in Windows 11
Windows 11 Woman on Laptop Lifestyle

Many people have been complaining about difficulty of changing the default browser in Windows 11, but it seems that Microsoft is finally taking note.

The latest Windows 11 Insider build contains fixes that make it much easier to do with just a single button press.

Read more
Microsoft prompts to switch to the Edge browser are starting to get ridiculous
microsoft edge gets startup boost feature take on chrome new

Microsoft is continuing its attempts to entice you to make Edge your default browser by incorporating various prompts that try to discourage those who want to download Google Chrome.

As spotted by Neowin, the new pop-ups in Microsoft’s Edge browser appear when users search for terms related to downloading Chrome via the company’s own Bing search engine or when they visit the Chrome download page.

Read more