Circle to Search could Microsft Edge before most Android phones

We all know about the new Circle to Search feature introduced by Samsung and Google. We also know that this feature will not be making it to other phones until later this year. That’s rather annoying, but what makes it worse is the fact that Microsoft is working on its own Circle to Search feature for the Edge browser. So, there’s a chance that Microsoft Edge will get Circle to Search before most Android phones.

To catch you up, Circle to Search is a feature that makes it much easier to access Google Lens. When you have the feature, all you have to do is summon Google Assistant, and it will basically take a screenshot of what’s on your screen currently. Then, simply draw a circle around what you want to search for. Google Lens will analyze what you just circled and give you search results.

Currently, this feature is only available for the Galaxy S24 phones and the Google Pixel 8 phones. It’s not slated to come to other devices until October 5th this year, which is a full eight months away.

Microsoft Edge may get its own Circle to Search feature

As you may have guessed, Microsoft is not porting over Google’s exact implementation. This feature is called Circle to Search with Copilot. So, it’s powered by Microsoft’s own artificial intelligence. Rather than being on mobile, this is a feature that you will use on the Edge browser using your mouse.

It’s pretty straightforward, as you’ll just need to access the tool, and draw a circle around the object with your mouse. Copilot will then analyze what’s on your display and start a Copilot conversation around that image. The conversation will open up on the right side of the screen in the side panel, and you’ll be able to ask it anything you want about what you circled.

At this point, this feature is not available. You can see it in the latest Canary version of Microsoft Edge, but it’s not functional. So, Microsoft is still working on making it work. In any case, it’s rather impressive that the company already has its own iteration, seeing as Galaxy unpacked happened only a few weeks ago.