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Category: Cross-platform benchmarks

Passing two important WebXPRT milestones

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on November 15, 2023

Over the past few months, we’ve been excited to see a substantial increase in the total number of completed WebXPRT runs. To put the increase in perspective, we had more total WebXPRT runs last month alone (40,453) than we had in the first two years WebXPRT was available (36,674)! This boost has helped us to reach two important milestones as we close in on the end of 2023.

The first milestone is that the number of WebXPRT 4 runs per month now exceeds the number of WebXPRT 3 runs per month. When we release a new version of an XPRT benchmark, it can take a while for users to transition from using the older version. For OEM labs and tech journalists, adding a new benchmark to their testing suite often involves a significant investment in back testing and gathering enough test data for meaningful comparisons. When the older version of the benchmark has been very successful, adoption of the new version can take longer. WebXPRT 3 has been remarkably popular around the world, so we’re excited to see WebXPRT 4 gain traction and take the lead even as the total number of WebXPRT runs increases each month. The chart below shows the number of WebXPRT runs per month for each version of WebXPRT over the past ten years. WebXPRT 4 usage first surpassed WebXPRT 3 in August of this year, and after looking at data for the last three months, we think its lead is here to stay.

The second important milestone is the cumulative number of WebXPRT runs, which recently passed 1.25 million, as the chart below shows. For us, this moment represents more than a numerical milestone. For a benchmark to succeed, developers need the trust and support of the benchmarking community. WebXPRT’s consistent year-over-year growth tells us that the benchmark continues to hold value for manufacturers, OEM labs, the tech press, and end users. We see it as a sign of trust that folks repeatedly return to the benchmark for reliable performance metrics. We’re grateful for that trust, and for everyone that has contributed to the WebXPRT development process over the years.

We look forward to seeing how far WebXPRT’s reach can extend in 2024! If you have any questions or comments about using WebXPRT, let us know!

Justin

Posted in benchmark, Benchmark metrics, Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, Browser-based benchmarks, Cross-platform benchmarks, History of benchmarking, Performance benchmarking, results, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 3, WebXPRT 4 | Tagged , , , , , , , |

Good news for WebXPRT 4 testing!

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on November 2, 2023

Over the past several weeks, we’ve been working to find a solution to a problem with WebXPRT 4 test failures on Apple devices running iOS 17/17.1, iPadOS 17/17.1, and macOS Sonoma with Safari 17/17.1. While we put significant effort into an updated WebXPRT version that would mitigate this issue, we are happy to report that it now looks like we’ll be able to stick with the current version!

Last Thursday, Apple released the iOS 17.2 beta for participants in the Apple Developer Program. When we tested the current version of WebXPRT 4 on iOS 17.2, the tests completed without any issues. We then successfully completed tests on iPadOS 17.2 and macOS Sonoma 14.2 with Safari 17.2. Now that we have good reasons to believe that the iOS 17.2 release will solve the problem, sticking with the current WebXPRT 4 build will maximize continuity and minimize disruption for WebXPRT users.

Apple has not yet published a public release date for iOS/iPad OS/Safari 17.2. Based on past development schedules, it seems likely that they will release it between mid-November and early December, but that’s simply our best guess. Until then, users who want to test WebXPRT 4 on devices running iOS 17/17.1, iPadOS 17/17.1, or macOS Sonoma with Safari 17/17.1 will need to update those devices to iOS/iPad OS/Safari 17.2 via the Apple Developer Program.

To help Apple users better navigate testing until the public 17.2 release, we’ve added a function to the current WebXPRT 4 start page that will notify users if they need to update their operating system to test.

We appreciate everyone’s patience as we worked to find a solution to this problem! If you have any questions or concerns about WebXPRT 4, please let us know.

Justin

Posted in Apple, benchmark, Benchmarking, browser performance, Browser-based benchmarks, Cross-platform benchmarks, iOS, iPadOS, Performance benchmarking, Safari, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 4 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , |

An update on the issue with WebXPRT 4 in iOS 17

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on September 28, 2023

Recently, we informed XPRT blog readers that after updating Apple iPhones and iPads to iOS and iPadOS 17, respectively, we began to see WebXPRT 4 failures on those devices. In the Safari and Google Chrome browsers, WebXPRT 4 test runs were freezing while running the Encrypt Notes and OCR Scan workload. We were able to replicate the issue on every iOS/iPadOS 17 device we tested, and we also confirmed that WebXPRT 4 continues to run without issues on other non-iOS platforms.

Our team has been investigating the situation, and we’ve made some progress. It’s clear that the failed test runs are getting stuck when the WASM-based Tesseract.js Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engine attempts to scan a shopping receipt. During our research, we’ve discovered an issue when the current Tesseract.js engine runs on iOS 17. This issue is broader than WebXPRT 4, and the Tesseract team is aware of the problem. Future versions of iOS 17 or later versions of Tesseract.js may include fixes for the problem, but unfortunately, we don’t know whether or when a fix will be available.

We’re currently investigating possible workarounds for the problem, and hope to be able to start testing soon. Our goal is that any solution we implement will not significantly affect existing WebXPRT 4 scores on non-iOS 17 platforms.

We will continue to share any substantive progress updates with readers here in the blog. Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience this issue causes for WebXPRT 4 users, and we appreciate your patience while we work toward a solution. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us!

Justin

Posted in Apple, benchmark, BenchmarkXPRT, browser performance, Browser-based benchmarks, Cross-platform benchmarks, Google Chrome, iOS, Performance benchmarking, Phones, Safari, Tablets, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 4 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Investigating a possible issue with WebXPRT 4 in iOS 17

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on September 14, 2023

Yesterday, Apple revealed the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro at its annual fall event, along with a new version of the iOS mobile operating system (iOS 17). The official iOS 17 launch will take place on September 18th, but before then, users of newer iPhones can install the OS via the Apple Beta Software Program.

Today, a tech journalist informed us that during their testing of iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro with iOS 17 Beta models, WebXPRT 4 has been freezing while running the Encrypt Notes and OCR Scan workload in the Safari 17 browser. Here in the lab, we were able to immediately replicate the issue on an iPhone 12 Pro with iOS 17 Beta model.

Our initial troubleshooting confirmed that WebXPRT 3 successfully runs to completion on iOS 17 Beta, so it appears that the problem is specific to WebXPRT 4. We also confirmed that WebXPRT 4 freezes at the same place when running in the Google Chrome browser on iOS 17 Beta, so we know that the problem does not occur only in Safari.

We’re currently investigating the issue, and will publish our findings here in the blog as soon as we feel confident that we’ve identified both the root cause and a workable solution, if a solution is necessary. One reason a solution would not be necessary is that the issue is a bug on the iOS 17 Beta side that Apple will resolve before the official launch.

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue might cause for tech reviewers and iPhone users, and we appreciate your patience while we figure out what’s going on. If you have any questions about WebXPRT 4, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Justin

Posted in Apple, benchmark, browser performance, Browser-based benchmarks, Cross-platform benchmarks, Google Chrome, iOS, iPhone, Performance benchmarking, Phones, Safari, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 3, WebXPRT 4 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Check out the WebXPRT 4 results viewer

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on July 6, 2023

New visitors to our site may not be aware of the WebXPRT 4 results viewer and how to use it. The viewer provides WebXPRT 4 users with an interactive, information-packed way to browse test results that is not available for earlier versions of the benchmark. With the viewer, users can explore all of the PT-curated results that we’ve published on WebXPRT.com, find more detailed information about those results, and compare results from different devices. The viewer currently displays over 460 results, and we add new entries each week.

The screenshot below shows the tool’s default display. Each vertical bar in the graph represents the overall score of a single test result, with bars arranged from lowest to highest. To view a single result in detail, the user hovers over a bar until it turns white and a small popup window displays the basic details of the result. If the user clicks to select the highlighted bar, the bar turns dark blue, and the dark blue banner at the bottom of the viewer displays additional details about that result.

In the example above, the banner shows the overall score (227), the score’s percentile rank (66th) among the scores in the current display, the name of the test device, and basic hardware disclosure information. If the source of the result is PT, users can click the Run info button to see the run’s individual workload scores. If the source is an external publisher, users can click the Source link to navigate to the original site.

The viewer includes a drop-down menu that lets users quickly filter results by major device type categories, and a tab that with additional filtering options, such as browser type, processor vendor, and result source. The screenshot below shows the viewer after I used the device type drop-down filter to select only desktops.

The screenshot below shows the viewer as I use the filter tab to explore additional filter options, such processor vendor.

The viewer also lets users pin multiple specific runs, which is helpful for making side-by-side comparisons. The screenshot below shows the viewer after I pinned four runs and viewed them on the Pinned runs screen.

The screenshot below shows the viewer after I clicked the Compare runs button. The overall and individual workload scores of the pinned runs appear in a table.

We’re excited about the WebXPRT 4 results viewer, and we want to hear your feedback. Are there features you’d really like to see, or ways we can improve the viewer? Please let us know, and send us your latest test results!

Justin

Posted in benchmark, Benchmark metrics, Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, browser performance, Browser-based benchmarks, Cross-platform benchmarks, Performance benchmarking, results, results submission, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 4 | Tagged , , , , , , , , |

The role of potential WebXPRT 4 auxiliary workloads

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on June 22, 2023

As we mentioned in our most recent blog post, we’re seeking suggestions for ways to improve WebXPRT 4. We’re open to the prospect of adding both non-workload features and new auxiliary tests, e.g., a battery life or WebGPU-based graphics test scenario.

To prevent any confusion among WebXPRT 4 testers, we want to reiterate that any auxiliary workloads we might add will not affect existing WebXPRT 4 subtest or overall scores in any way. Auxiliary tests would be experimental or targeted workloads that run separately from the main test and produce their own scores. Current and future WebXPRT 4 results will be comparable to one another, so users who’ve already built a database of WebXPRT 4 scores will not have to retest their devices. Any new tests will be add-ons that allow us to continue expanding the rapidly growing body of published WebXPRT 4 test results while making the benchmark even more valuable to users overall.

If you have any thoughts about potential browser performance workloads, or any specific web technologies that you’d like to test, please let us know.

Justin

Posted in battery life, Benchmarking, browser performance, Browser-based benchmarks, Cross-platform benchmarks, results, WebGPU, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 4 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , |

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