The fifth generation of mobile networks has been with us for a couple of years, although it is only now that we have a more widespread availability. In fact, the focus now is ‘real’ 5G, released by Orange and later by Movistar.
Now, the advantages are well known to everyone, but we still had a question to solve: battery consumption. That calculation has been commissioned by the company Ookla, known for its Internet diagnostic services. Let’s see what they say.
Yes, 5G consumes more
To begin with, the American company has prepared a report evaluating the battery consumption generated by 5G connectivity. One of the most curious data that you have provided refers to the processor.
As we know, the radio that provides coverage to our smartphones is aligned next to the SoC, and in reference to this there is no other like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. If you are looking for a mobile with 5G, the solution from the American manufacturer is the one with the most homogeneous consumption.
The aforementioned report also talks about technologies: the most widespread 5G continue to use 4G networks. Called 5G NSA, it generates higher consumption, since it connects to two carriers. One to reach the 4G LTE network that establishes the control channel, and another to collect more flow.
What happens with all this? Well, our terminals will constantly search for nearby antennas of both connectionssomething that seriously impacts their autonomy.
Battery consumption by the 5G connection will improve with the expansion of 5G+
But to determine this result, they have checked the battery consumption in different terminals, and different processors such as the well-known Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, Dimensity 9000, Tensor G and G2, or Samsung’s Exynos 2200.
It seems obvious, but this is not always the case: the most recent generations such as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, or Google’s Tensor G2 manage the battery more efficiently. In fact, the top 2 is completed by the Mediatek Dimensity 9200, just behind Qualcomm’s latest flagship.
These dates will be improved with the expansion of 5G+since 5G SA only requires our mobile to connect to a single carrier, with the lower consumption that this entails.
Via | Broadband
In Xataka Mobile | The digital divide is narrowing: this is how 5G coverage and ultra-fast fixed broadband advance in Spain