When it comes to online browsing, Google Chrome is always a preferred choice among users, even though it is known to be a battery hog. Earlier, it has also been reported that Microsoft’s native browser Edge and MacOS’s Safari are more battery efficient than Chrome.
To further amplify the fact, Microsoft has surfaced with a test, where four browsers—Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera—were tested on an identical laptop (Microsoft’s Surface Pro) and the results clearly showed the Edge browser has much better battery efficiency than all the other three.
In the blog, Microsoft Edge’s web platform team director Jason Weber, said: "We designed Microsoft Edge from the ground up to prioritize power efficiency and deliver more battery life, without any special battery saving mode or changes to the default settings. Our testing and data show that you can simply browse longer with Microsoft Edge than with Chrome, Firefox, or Opera on Windows 10 devices."
All the browsers involved in the test were automated to perform a specific set of browsing tasks including opening websites, scrolling though articles, watching videos, and opening new tabs for each task. Some of the websites that were browsed included Facebook, Google, YouTube, Amazon, Wikipedia and more.
After the completion of the test, it was discovered that Microsoft Edge is a more energy efficient browser on Windows 10, ‘with up to 36 to 53 per cent more battery life to get what you need done’.
In the further support these findings, Microsoft collected billions of data points from Windows 10 devices around the globe, clearly denoting that the Edge browser still prevails in real life, pragmatic situations.
"These numbers are from actual Windows 10 use in the wild, not artificial tests or hypotheses. People using Microsoft Edge simply get more out of their battery every day," Weber added.
Another test was conducted where videos were streamed on the latest devices, running the four aforementioned browsers. This test proved that the Edge browser has 17 to 70 per cent battery efficiency in comparison to the other three. In direct comparison with the Chrome, the Edge browser lasted three hours longer, totalling up to more than 7 hours of continuous streaming.
Microsoft has also announced plans to further enhance its Edge browser capabilities with its upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
"We continue to focus on power efficiency with regular updates to Windows 10, and the Windows 10 Anniversary Update will include even more power-saving improvements, using fewer CPU cycles, consuming less memory, and minimizing the impact of background activity and peripheral content like Flash advertisements," Weber said.
