Microsoft and Google are in a war to provide the best battery life for your portable computer – and the only winners here are consumers.
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After Google tried to redeem Chrome by demonstrating how much the browser’s recent build fares versus last years version, Microsoft was quick to chime in.
Microsoft has stated its Edge browser still boasts more efficient power consumption than its rivals, following the roll-out of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. “[Edge is] up to 24 to 43 percent more efficient than the competition for general objective browsing, and lasts up to 23 to 69 percent longer when streaming video”. It beat its old time by and hour and 25 minutes.
I’m pretty sure I’ll receive responses from Opera, Mozilla and Google soon after this post goes up and I’ll update this story once I hear from them.
“Our competitors haven’t been sitting still”, Weber writes.
The Chrome team recently released a similar video where they focused on comparing the latest version of Chrome to a release from previous year to demonstrate some improvements, however they didn’t include other browsers in this test.
So how does the latest version of Chrome compare to Microsoft Edge? However, for fans of Microsoft’s browser, Edge is clearly standing tall in Microsoft’s tests.
Microsoft specifically called out the Chrome team, writing, “Because the format was so similar to our tests, we shot a second video to compare like for like, this time using their methodology: looping the same video from Vimeo, instead of Netflix”.
According to Microsoft’s tests carried out on Edge in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update and Chrome 53, Edge still holds the battery life crown in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
In case you get a better idea of what is going on with percents, that means that the system on Edge managed to outlive the one on Chrome by nearly 45 percent.
Interestingly, Edge still came out on top, however the margin was significantly reduced and Edge managed to last merely 11 percent longer in this particular test. While Microsoft has been highlighting Chrome’s poor battery performance, Google’s browser is still the most popular on desktops. StatCounter data suggests that Chrome is still rising in popularity on the desktop, despite Microsoft’s efforts with Edge.
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Of course, choosing a browser can often have a lot more to do with desired features or integrations than battery life.
