Microsoft calls Google out on Chrome’s battery woes with more tests

Microsoft is calling Google out on its latest improvents to battery life in Chrome. While the company acknowledges that competitors have made significant improvements of late, it still finds Edge has an, umm, edge over other major Windows browsers.

The Chrome team put out a battery test last week that looked suspiciously similar to one done by the Edge team a few months ago, except it only showed improvements to its own browser instead of comparing it to competitors.

Looks familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it. pic.twitter.com/srM2dnCsgC

— Kyle Pflug (@kylealden) September 6, 2016

So Microsoft replicated Google’s methodology – looping the same Vimeo clip for hours – and unsurprisingly found Chrome inferior to Edge, although not by a huge margin. As shown in the video above, the results were:

• Edge: 13:25:49
• Chrome: 12:08:28
• Opera: 9:37:23
• Firefox: 8:16:49

But when Microsoft repeated its own experiment from a while back the differences were even more stark.

The test, which involves looping streaming video from Netflix instead, saw these results:

• Edge: 8:47:06
• Opera 7:08:58
• Chrome 6:03:54
• Firefox 5:11:34

It’s also interesting to note that Microsoft’s own test yields worse battery life for Edge than Google’s, but team Satya thinks the Netflix loop is more of a real-world scenario than looping Vimeo, which I’m inclined to agree with.

When it comes to general browsing, Microsoft says it’s improved battery life on Edge by 12 percent since its last tests. The company is serious about proving the authenticity of its test too, and is releasing its methodology on GitHub for both looping video and general browsing.

Of course Microsoft is trying to present its browser in the best light too, and it’s previously been called out by Opera, so that has to be weighed against the company. Still, personal experience leads me to agree with the results.

All that being said, it’s worth noting that Chrome has improved significantly in these tests, up from being the worst across the board. It’s vimeo test was clearly aimed at making Chrome look good, but the progress doesn’t go unnoticed. A bit of healthy competition helps everyone out.