Sauce Labs, the test automation leader created by the founders of Selenium and Appium, today announced ARM-native virtual devices for Android in Virtual Device Cloud, the industry’s first enterprise-grade, ARM-native virtual Android testing environment, part of AURA, the company’s AI-Unified Release Assurance platform. The product runs on Google Cloud’s C4A metal instances, bare-metal ARM infrastructure running on Google Axion processors, a next-generation foundation that makes this level of ARM-native performance possible at enterprise scale. The launch marks a new chapter in the strategic collaboration between Sauce Labs and Google Cloud.
The collaboration closes a longstanding performance gap in cloud-based virtual Android testing. While x86-based cloud emulators have served as the standard for mobile web and app functional testing on Android, teams running native ARM64 libraries have had limited options in the cloud, and all teams have had to accept some translation overhead between the test environment and the ARM-based devices users actually hold. That translation process requires every test to be converted at runtime from ARM to x86, resulting in slower session start times and higher error rates than ARM-native environments. For engineering teams where speed, fidelity, and ARM64 compatibility are critical, that gap has been a real constraint.
Google Cloud’s C4A metal removes the root cause. Running virtual Android devices directly on bare-metal ARM hardware eliminates translation overhead entirely. Test results reflect what actually happens on the physical devices your users hold.
ARM-native virtual devices deliver faster test cycles, more reliable results that more closely reflect real-device behaviors, and CI/CD-scale parallelism across Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and modern pipelines. Teams previously blocked by ARM64 library incompatibilities now have a first-class virtual testing option.
Also announced: Sauce Labs is now available on Google Cloud Marketplace with private offer support. Enterprise teams with existing Google Cloud commitments can consolidate procurement, lock in custom terms, and deploy the platform without the friction of traditional software acquisition.
As part of AURA, Sauce Labs’ AI-Unified Release Assurance platform, Virtual Device Cloud extends that same production confidence to native ARM Android testing.
Sauce Labs is trusted by global enterprises including Walmart, Bank of America, and Indeed, with more than 300,000 users and 8.7 billion tests executed on the platform. ARM-native Android testing in Virtual Device Cloud is now generally available. To learn more, visit www.saucelabs.com.
Sauce Labs Launches the Industry’s First ARM-Native Android Testing Cloud for the Enterprise at Scale
Posted in Commentary with tags Sauce Labs on September 30, 2026 by itnerdSauce Labs, the test automation leader created by the founders of Selenium and Appium, today announced ARM-native virtual devices for Android in Virtual Device Cloud, the industry’s first enterprise-grade, ARM-native virtual Android testing environment, part of AURA, the company’s AI-Unified Release Assurance platform. The product runs on Google Cloud’s C4A metal instances, bare-metal ARM infrastructure running on Google Axion processors, a next-generation foundation that makes this level of ARM-native performance possible at enterprise scale. The launch marks a new chapter in the strategic collaboration between Sauce Labs and Google Cloud.
The collaboration closes a longstanding performance gap in cloud-based virtual Android testing. While x86-based cloud emulators have served as the standard for mobile web and app functional testing on Android, teams running native ARM64 libraries have had limited options in the cloud, and all teams have had to accept some translation overhead between the test environment and the ARM-based devices users actually hold. That translation process requires every test to be converted at runtime from ARM to x86, resulting in slower session start times and higher error rates than ARM-native environments. For engineering teams where speed, fidelity, and ARM64 compatibility are critical, that gap has been a real constraint.
Google Cloud’s C4A metal removes the root cause. Running virtual Android devices directly on bare-metal ARM hardware eliminates translation overhead entirely. Test results reflect what actually happens on the physical devices your users hold.
ARM-native virtual devices deliver faster test cycles, more reliable results that more closely reflect real-device behaviors, and CI/CD-scale parallelism across Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and modern pipelines. Teams previously blocked by ARM64 library incompatibilities now have a first-class virtual testing option.
Also announced: Sauce Labs is now available on Google Cloud Marketplace with private offer support. Enterprise teams with existing Google Cloud commitments can consolidate procurement, lock in custom terms, and deploy the platform without the friction of traditional software acquisition.
As part of AURA, Sauce Labs’ AI-Unified Release Assurance platform, Virtual Device Cloud extends that same production confidence to native ARM Android testing.
Sauce Labs is trusted by global enterprises including Walmart, Bank of America, and Indeed, with more than 300,000 users and 8.7 billion tests executed on the platform. ARM-native Android testing in Virtual Device Cloud is now generally available. To learn more, visit www.saucelabs.com.
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