Apple iOS 5 now outperforms IE9 HTML5 on Windows Phone Mango
Microsoft kicked off a mobile HTML5 performance war back in April. — The software giant demonstrated a Windows Phone Mango device against an Android and iPhone 4. Windows Phone came out on top but it hasn't taken Apple long to respond.
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft opened this fight itself: back in April 2011, alongside its Mango operating system reveal, it staged a demo pitting a Windows Phone Mango device against an Android phone and an iPhone 4 on mobile HTML5 performance — and Windows Phone came out on top. That made IE9's HTML5 score a flagship talking point for a platform still trying to establish credibility.
WinRumors' report closes the loop quickly: Apple has responded well before Mango reaches customers, with iOS 5 now outperforming IE9 HTML5. What Microsoft framed as a one-time demonstration is turning into a running scoreboard between two unshipped OS updates, with each vendor's next release measured against the other's.
First-order effects
- Apple erases the core talking point from Microsoft's April Mango demo just weeks after it was made, undercutting the HTML5-superiority claim at the exact moment Microsoft needs it for Mango's launch pitch.
- iOS 5 gains a concrete, testable performance claim over both IE9 and the iPhone 4 hardware used in Microsoft's own comparison, giving Apple ammunition for its fall software push.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft is pushed to re-tune IE9 or stage fresh demonstrations before Mango ships — the upcoming Mango preview cycle becomes the venue where it must answer Apple's numbers rather than repeat April's.
- Google is dragged into the same contest whether it participates or not, since Android devices were part of Microsoft's April comparison and any refreshed benchmarks will rank all three.
Third-order effects
- Mobile browser engine performance hardens into a standing platform differentiator: each OS maker now treats web-rendering scores as release-critical features to be re-won at every update, not settled plumbing.
- If the demo-and-counter-demo pattern holds, HTML5 benchmarking becomes a recurring public relations battlefield among Apple, Google, and Microsoft, with third-party test results functioning as de facto referee for platform marketing claims.
The trend: Mobile browser performance is shifting from invisible infrastructure to a headline platform battleground that Apple, Google, and Microsoft each re-contest at every OS release.