Chipset battery life battle: Tegra versus S4 versus Exynos

GSM Arena has completed battery tests on the AT&T version of HTC One X, which is bound for the US. The only difference between the AT&T version of One X and the international version, the One X is the chipset used, internal storage and LTE.

We have also thrown the Samsung Galaxy S III in the mix, which would allow to compare the three best mobile chipsets in the market today:  Nvidia's Tegra 3, Qualcomms S4 and Samsung's Exynos.

HTC One X 

• Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset
• 40 nanometer manufacture process
• Quad core 1.5 GHz Cortex A-9 processor
• 5th 500 MHz companion core for use during tasks that do not require much processing power  
• ULP GeForce Graphics
• 16GB Internal Storage
• HSDPA+ 21.1 Mbps connectivity 
• 1800 mAh battery

HTC One X (AT&T)

• Qualcomm S4 MSM8960
• 28 nanometer manufacture process
• Dual core 1.5 GHz Krait processor
• Dynamic cpu frequency and voltage scaling allows the processor to adjust CPU speed and voltage as needed
• Adreno 225 graphics
• 32 GB internal storage
• HSDPA+ 21.1 Mbps/LTE
• 1800 mAh battery

 

Samsung Galaxy S III

• Exynos 4212 Quad
• 32 nanometer manufacture process
• Quad core 1.4 GHz Cortex A-9 processor
• Dynamic cpu frequency and voltage scaling allows the processor to adjust CPU speed and voltage as needed
• Mali 400MP
• 16/32/64 GB internal storage
• HSDPA+ 21.1 Mbps
• 2100 mAh battery

GSM Arena's battery life tests results

Talk Time

• One X (AT&T) - 10:35
• Galaxy S III - 10:20
• One X - 9:57

The Qualcomm S4 is more efficient than the Tegra 3 at this task. The Galaxy S III comes in second in the talk time tests, despite its larger battery, just coming in slightly ahead of the Tegra power One X. Both the Qualcomm S4 and the Nvidia Tegra 3 a more power efficient at this task, the Exynos powered S III excellent results being more a function of a larger battery.

Web browsing

• Galaxy S III - 5:17
• One X (AT&T) - 5:03
  
• One X - 4:18
  

This is the surprising one. The Galaxy S III uses a AMOLED type display which historically fairs poorly on web browsing battery life tests. It would seem that dynamic frequency and voltage scaling may be better implemented on the Exynos. Despite the larger battery on the SIII, we would have expected the Qualcomm S4 powered HTC One X with its LCD display to top this benchmark.

 

The Qualcomm S4 is much more efficient than the Tegra 3 at this task.

Video Playback

• Galaxy S III - 10:01
• One X (AT&T) - 6:26
  
• One X - 5:45
  

AMOLED displays saves power on video playback as compared to LCD displays, so the result here is no surprise. The Qualcomm S4 is much more efficient than the Tegra 3 at this task.

The Tegra 3 is no slouch in battery life. Compare it to 2011 phone and it represents a significant improvement. If you compare it to a Apple iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S II  HTC Sensation XE it is both more powerful and more power efficient, factoring in display size.

But the competition has also improved in terms of power efficiency, and the Tegra 3 falls below the new benchmark. Still, for the gamer it might still be the platform of choice with the ULP GeForce graphics chip being able to display near console quality graphics for Tegra optimized games, putting it on the top of the heap of all mobile graphics chips in this regard.