Earlier this week we wrote about a test that showed Microsoft’s Edge browser is more power efficient than key rivals. The test was conducted in house and was primarily aimed at showing how good for battery life Edge is and how poor Google Chrome is. However, Microsoft also fired shots at Firefox and Opera in the test.
Opera, despite not coming out of the test too badly, has now decided it is less than happy with Microsoft’s test and has responded with a test of its own. Rather unsurprisingly Opera comes out on top in its own test, out-performing Microsoft’s Edge browser by over 40 minutes.
In its test, Opera decided to only pit itself against Edge, highlighting the company’s anger with Microsoft over the original test. It seems that Microsoft’s attempt to show how poor battery life on Chrome is (something of an undeniable given), the company has started a browser war of sorts.
In the first test, Microsoft 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.”
In a blog post announcing its own test, Opera says Microsoft was coy on the full details of how it conducted its test. This, the company says, means it was unable to replicate the exact conditions of the tests. As a result, Opera used its own test criteria by using a Lenovo Yoga 500 laptop with Windows 10 running a balanced power setting.
The final result, according to Opera, were as follows:
Opera Developer (39.0.2248.0) with native ad blocker and power saver enabled is able to run 22% longer than Microsoft Edge (25.10586.0.0) on a laptop running Windows 10, 64-bit, and 35% longer than the latest version of Google Chrome (51.0.2704.103)
The company ended with this statement:
“The browser is by far the most used application on both laptops and desktop computers, and for users it is undoubtedly beneficial that browsers are improving and competing. However, if Microsoft really wants to prove that its browser performs better than others (in any regard), the company should be transparent about its methodology so that others can replicate it. Better luck next time, Microsoft!”
So, which company is right here? Well, you may have noticed that Opera had Adblock (a toss up) and the unique power saver enabled, which gives it an obvious advantage. It is easy to see that both Microsoft and Opera managed to get favorable results by using test criteria that suited their browsers.
We are now waiting to see what Google and Mozilla will have to say about Microsoft’s test.
