You may have already noticed that your smartphone, after connecting to the 5G network, drains its battery power more quickly. Nothing new. However, recent data published by Ookla, one of the most popular network performance analysis services, shows how this technology affects, in particular, the latest processors.
No SoC can match the power consumption of 5G NSA over 4G, though there is a clear winner when it comes to processor manufacturers.
Qualcomm has the most efficient chip, and Samsung's Exynos is unsurprisingly the worst at managing power consumption, according to the data collected.
When we talk about 5G NSA, what are we talking about?
In simpler terms, we can say that NSA 5G is a kind of "impure 5G". That is, the NSA standard uses the same core network as the current 4G system. With the adoption of this type of infrastructure, it is classified as "impure". This brings some problems, as we shall see.
You ookla data Offering a very modern look at the current state of 5G consumption by the latest processors. Specifically, the following chips on the table.
According to these tests, the 5G consumes between 6 and 11% more energy (depending on the SoC) compared to 4G-LTE networks. Of all the processors on the table, the new Snapdragon processors were the most efficient, followed by MediaTek. At the end of the list, we have Samsung Exynos and Google Tensor, which are still Google-adapted Exynos processors.
This data confirms something that manufacturers emphasize. Samsung itself states in its troubleshooting section that 5G service can cause abnormal power consumption, as well as a slight rise in temperature.
This is also not the first study on this topic, although it is the one with the latest data and goes deeper into the main SoCs. You Tests from other laboratories I agree with the data: There is an effect on battery life of increasing battery usage by about 10% on 5G compared to 4G.
What is the reason for this high consumption?
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) itself indicates that we will not have built-in consumption of 5G until we have network deployment and infrastructure that are fully 5G-adapted. Nowadays, it is easy for our phone to constantly switch between 5G and 4G networks (every few seconds, so as not to lose network coverage at any time) due to lack of coverage, which leads to a huge drain on the battery.
The power requirements of today's modems to handle 5G networks are also not trivial. These modems have more antennas, both antennas that receive a 4G LTE connection and those that are ready for 5G SA / NSA are required. While this standard has been around for a few years, there is still work to be done to make chips more energy efficient.
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