In a bid to improve privacy and loading speeds, version 90 of Chrome will now use https:// by default when navigating to a website through the address bar.
Better Security When Using HTTPS
As announced on the Chromium Blog, Chrome's address bar will use https:// by default. This will be available from version 90 of the desktop and Android browser, which is due to release on April 13. iOS support will follow later.
This means that when you manually type a URL into the address bar, like "makeuseof.com", Chrome will automatically choose https:// as the default protocol.
The only exception to this rule will be for IP addresses, single label domains, and reserved hostnames.
Previous behavior was to use https:// first, which made sense in the past, but now most of the web supports HTTPS as standard.
HTTPS is a secure protocol because it encrypts traffic, meaning that personal information can't be intercepted by an unwanted third-party.
This means that sites will load slightly faster because Chrome will connect directly to the HTTPS endpoint, rather than being redirected from https:// to https://.
If a site doesn't support HTTPS, or the verification fails (perhaps due to a certificate error or a DNS resolution failure), then Chrome will revert to HTTP.