Looks like some significant battery life improvements are coming are coming to Microsoft Edge, this time using some saving techniques discovered by good old Google.
For Chrome.
The search engine giant experimented with limiting JavaScript timer wakeups to 1 wake per minute starting with version 86 of its web browser. This makes the feature work similar to what is found n other browsers like Safari.
Apparently, Google found that Chrome web browsers don’t really benefit from prolonged use of JavaScript timers once a webpage is already up and running. Trying this on 36 random tabs with a blank background tab open resulted in an extended battery life of up to 2 hours.
Or 28%.
In another situation, having a YouTube video open in full-screen mode, alongside 36 other tabs, battery life was improved by around 13% when the JavaScript timer was throttled to 1 minute. Pretty significant upticks all around.
The setting option is currently hidden behind a flag, but Google is set to apply it to Chrome on all major platforms, except iOS.
And since Chrome and the new Microsoft Edge share the same codebase now, the feature is also available in Edge on the Canary channel. You can access it today via the #intensive-wake-up-throttling flag that can be found in edge://flags.
Redmond has been heavily focused on improving battery life on Edge from the very start, which was one of the advantages of using the old, legacy version of the web browser.
And this little trick is right up its alley.
