Google is pushing Gemini in Chrome into new territory. Starting now, the AI sidebar assistant is available in Australia, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam. Both desktop and iOS get it — except Japan, which is desktop-only for now.
What Gemini in Chrome does
In case you haven’t tried it: Gemini sits as a sidebar assistant right in the browser. You can ask questions about open tabs, get summaries, and access Personal Intelligence features — Gmail, Google Photos, Maps, Calendar — all without leaving the browser.
New in this rollout: image transformation with “Nano Banana 2” and the ability to draft and send emails directly through Gmail from the chat interface.
Google’s expansion playbook
Google is moving methodically. Gemini in Chrome launched in the US in January, expanded to India, Canada, and New Zealand in March, and now pivots to Asia-Pacific — a region where Google already dominates through Android and Chrome.
The agentic features — automated browser actions — remain limited to paid AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in the US for now. Everyone else gets the base feature set.
Also: Higher limits in AI Studio
On the same day, Google bumped usage limits in AI Studio for Pro subscribers ($19.99/month) and Ultra subscribers ($249.99/month). Both plans now include access to Nano Banana Pro and Gemini Pro models, plus expanded limits for Jules, Gemini Code Assist, and Gemini CLI.
My take
Google’s strategy is clear: establish the browser as an AI platform before anyone else does. With Chrome Skills (announced last week) and now this international expansion, Google is building exactly what Anthropic does with Cowork and plugins — but at the browser layer.
For users in the Asia-Pacific region, this is great news. For Claude and ChatGPT, it means the competition for the desktop AI assistant is now also a competition for the browser.
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