You can download Firefox 18 for Windows, Mac, and Linux right now; official launch this week

Firefox 18 for desktop is due to officially launch sometime this week, but the latest version is already available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can grab it now from Mozilla’s servers here: FTP.

Update on January 8: Firefox 18 gets up to 25% faster JavaScript with IonMonkey, Retina and preliminary WebRTC support

If you prefer to wait for the official launch, keep your browser pointed to Firefox.com. You may also want to check out the Mozilla blog, which is bound to have an announcement soon. If you use Firefox on your Android device, make sure to check for app updates over on the Google Play Store as a new version is likely coming soon this week as well.

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There’s no official Firefox 18 changelog as of yet, but the beta release notes should serve as a decent guideline:

• NEW: Support for Retina Display on OS X 10.7 and up.
• NEW: Preliminary support for WebRTC.
• CHANGED: Experience better image quality with our new HTML scaling algorithm.
• CHANGED: Performance improvements around tab switching.
• DEVELOPER: CSS3 Flexbox implemented.
• DEVELOPER: Support for new DOM property window.devicePixelRatio.
• DEVELOPER: Support for @supports added.
• DEVELOPER: Improvement in startup time through smart handling of signed extension certificates.
• HTML5: Support for W3C touch events impemented, taking the place of MozTouch events.
• FIXED: Disable insecure content loading on HTTPS pages (62178).
• FIXED: Improved responsiveness for users on proxies (769764).

We will update you with more information (including the official changelog) when Firefox 18 officially launches. In the meantime, if you’re a Web developer, you may want to check out Firefox 18 for developers.

Update on January 8: Firefox 18 gets up to 25% faster JavaScript with IonMonkey, Retina and preliminary WebRTC support

See also – Mozilla announces animated themes are going away in Firefox 18 for the sake of performance and Firefox 18 beta out: Faster JavaScript via IonMonkey, PDF viewer, Retina Display support for Macs

Image credit: Brad Harrison