diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/client/browserType.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/client/browserType.ts
index c4b782f5c3189..527a3b1bd707e 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/client/browserType.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/client/browserType.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ export class BrowserType extends ChannelOwner<channels.BrowserTypeChannel> imple
   // Instrumentation.
   _defaultContextOptions?: BrowserContextOptions;
   _defaultLaunchOptions?: LaunchOptions;
+  _defaultConnectOptions?: ConnectOptions;
   _onDidCreateContext?: (context: BrowserContext) => Promise<void>;
   _onWillCloseContext?: (context: BrowserContext) => Promise<void>;
 
@@ -67,6 +68,9 @@ export class BrowserType extends ChannelOwner<channels.BrowserTypeChannel> imple
   }
 
   async launch(options: LaunchOptions = {}): Promise<Browser> {
+    if (this._defaultConnectOptions)
+      return await this._connectInsteadOfLaunching();
+
     const logger = options.logger || this._defaultLaunchOptions?.logger;
     assert(!(options as any).userDataDir, 'userDataDir option is not supported in `browserType.launch`. Use `browserType.launchPersistentContext` instead');
     assert(!(options as any).port, 'Cannot specify a port without launching as a server.');
@@ -83,6 +87,18 @@ export class BrowserType extends ChannelOwner<channels.BrowserTypeChannel> imple
     return browser;
   }
 
+  private async _connectInsteadOfLaunching(): Promise<Browser> {
+    const connectOptions = this._defaultConnectOptions!;
+    return this._connect(connectOptions.wsEndpoint, {
+      headers: {
+        'x-playwright-browser': this.name(),
+        'x-playwright-launch-options': JSON.stringify(this._defaultLaunchOptions || {}),
+        ...connectOptions.headers,
+      },
+      timeout: connectOptions.timeout ?? 3 * 60 * 1000, // 3 minutes
+    });
+  }
+
   async launchServer(options: LaunchServerOptions = {}): Promise<api.BrowserServer> {
     if (!this._serverLauncher)
       throw new Error('Launching server is not supported');
diff --git a/packages/playwright-test/src/index.ts b/packages/playwright-test/src/index.ts
index b1b8c18b361af..aadc12f9a6360 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-test/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-test/src/index.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as path from 'path';
-import type { LaunchOptions, BrowserContextOptions, Page, Browser, BrowserContext, Video, APIRequestContext, Tracing } from 'playwright-core';
+import type { LaunchOptions, BrowserContextOptions, Page, BrowserContext, Video, APIRequestContext, Tracing } from 'playwright-core';
 import type { TestType, PlaywrightTestArgs, PlaywrightTestOptions, PlaywrightWorkerArgs, PlaywrightWorkerOptions, TestInfo, VideoMode, TraceMode } from '../types/test';
 import { rootTestType } from './testType';
 import { createGuid, debugMode } from 'playwright-core/lib/utils';
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@ type TestFixtures = PlaywrightTestArgs & PlaywrightTestOptions & {
   _contextFactory: (options?: BrowserContextOptions) => Promise<BrowserContext>;
 };
 type WorkerFixtures = PlaywrightWorkerArgs & PlaywrightWorkerOptions & {
-  _connectedBrowser: Browser | undefined,
   _browserOptions: LaunchOptions;
   _artifactsDir: () => string;
   _snapshotSuffix: string;
@@ -91,7 +90,7 @@ export const test = _baseTest.extend<TestFixtures, WorkerFixtures>({
       await removeFolders([dir]);
   }, { scope: 'worker', _title: 'playwright configuration' } as any],
 
-  _browserOptions: [async ({ playwright, headless, channel, launchOptions }, use) => {
+  _browserOptions: [async ({ playwright, headless, channel, launchOptions, connectOptions }, use) => {
     const options: LaunchOptions = {
       handleSIGINT: false,
       timeout: 0,
@@ -102,38 +101,18 @@ export const test = _baseTest.extend<TestFixtures, WorkerFixtures>({
     if (channel !== undefined)
       options.channel = channel;
 
-    for (const browserType of [playwright.chromium, playwright.firefox, playwright.webkit])
+    for (const browserType of [playwright.chromium, playwright.firefox, playwright.webkit]) {
       (browserType as any)._defaultLaunchOptions = options;
+      (browserType as any)._defaultConnectOptions = connectOptions;
+    }
     await use(options);
-    for (const browserType of [playwright.chromium, playwright.firefox, playwright.webkit])
+    for (const browserType of [playwright.chromium, playwright.firefox, playwright.webkit]) {
       (browserType as any)._defaultLaunchOptions = undefined;
-  }, { scope: 'worker', auto: true }],
-
-  _connectedBrowser: [async ({ playwright, browserName, connectOptions, _browserOptions }, use) => {
-    if (!connectOptions) {
-      await use(undefined);
-      return;
-    }
-    if (!['chromium', 'firefox', 'webkit'].includes(browserName))
-      throw new Error(`Unexpected browserName "${browserName}", must be one of "chromium", "firefox" or "webkit"`);
-    const browser = await playwright[browserName].connect(connectOptions.wsEndpoint, {
-      headers: {
-        'x-playwright-browser': browserName,
-        'x-playwright-launch-options': JSON.stringify(_browserOptions),
-        ...connectOptions.headers,
-      },
-      timeout: connectOptions.timeout ?? 3 * 60 * 1000, // 3 minutes
-    });
-    await use(browser);
-    await browser.close();
-  }, { scope: 'worker', timeout: 0, _title: 'remote connection' } as any],
-
-  browser: [async ({ playwright, browserName, _connectedBrowser }, use) => {
-    if (_connectedBrowser) {
-      await use(_connectedBrowser);
-      return;
+      (browserType as any)._defaultConnectOptions = undefined;
     }
+  }, { scope: 'worker', auto: true }],
 
+  browser: [async ({ playwright, browserName }, use) => {
     if (!['chromium', 'firefox', 'webkit'].includes(browserName))
       throw new Error(`Unexpected browserName "${browserName}", must be one of "chromium", "firefox" or "webkit"`);
     const browser = await playwright[browserName].launch();
diff --git a/tests/library/browsertype-connect.spec.ts b/tests/library/browsertype-connect.spec.ts
index 9822a85a40108..dcc0edb67325e 100644
--- a/tests/library/browsertype-connect.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/library/browsertype-connect.spec.ts
@@ -627,4 +627,16 @@ test('should upload large file', async ({ browserType, startRemoteServer, server
   await Promise.all([uploadFile, file1.filepath].map(fs.promises.unlink));
 });
 
+test('should connect when launching', async ({ browserType, startRemoteServer, httpsServer, mode }) => {
+  const remoteServer = await startRemoteServer();
+  (browserType as any)._defaultConnectOptions = {
+    wsEndpoint: remoteServer.wsEndpoint()
+  };
+
+  const browser = await browserType.launch();
 
+  await Promise.all([
+    new Promise(f => browser.on('disconnected', f)),
+    remoteServer.close(),
+  ]);
+});
diff --git a/tests/playwright-test/playwright.connect.spec.ts b/tests/playwright-test/playwright.connect.spec.ts
index 143a2db7907f7..48a12e4b5e529 100644
--- a/tests/playwright-test/playwright.connect.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/playwright-test/playwright.connect.spec.ts
@@ -70,7 +70,8 @@ test('should throw with bad connectOptions', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
   });
   expect(result.exitCode).toBe(1);
   expect(result.passed).toBe(0);
-  expect(result.output).toContain('browserType.connect:');
+  expect(result.output).toContain('browserType.launch:');
+  expect(result.output).toContain('does-not-exist-bad-domain');
 });
 
 test('should respect connectOptions.timeout', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
@@ -93,5 +94,5 @@ test('should respect connectOptions.timeout', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
   });
   expect(result.exitCode).toBe(1);
   expect(result.passed).toBe(0);
-  expect(result.output).toContain('browserType.connect: Timeout 1ms exceeded.');
+  expect(result.output).toContain('browserType.launch: Timeout 1ms exceeded.');
 });