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iPhone 4S will Support iOS 9
- Thread starter iPhone20
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Its about time the 4s was dropped from support to allow optimisation for newer devices
Doesn't matter to me really as iOS 8.3 on 4s is so far so good but after a bit of research on here I'm thinking that it might jus be supported considering they still selling iPod touch with same chip and also millions still using the device but what do I know#
No!! Thats their problem. They need to reduce the ram usage in iOS and what better way than targeting the 4S as a benchmark to ensure it runs well on 1GB devices.
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The 4 did not have the sound cancelling tech that the 4S does.
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The majority of iPad users are still on A5 devices. In fact over 40 percent of iPad users are on the iPad 2 and iPad Mini 1 which are the same device internally. Add to that the iPhone 4S which is also in widespread use and the iPad 3 and iPod Touch 5 and you have a lot of devices. Also the Mini 1 and Touch 5 are still for sale. Bit too late to do a sneaky discontiaution of TWO devices, one being the most expensive iPod sold, unlike the cheap Touch 4. Not to mention that iOS 9 is to be focused on performance, so if performance increases there is no reason for it not to run on A5 devices.
Well it's easy jus to say "go buy an iPhone 6" but I buy my devices outright and £500-£600 for "a phone" is just crazy as I would rather take my 5 year old son on a holiday so £65 for a 4s and £11 a month sim only deal with O2 suits me fine as it does everything required very smoothly and not tied to a 2 year contract and couldn't be happier with performance on iOS 8 on the device
I hope that iOS 9 continues to improve performance on A5 devices. It will do good for all devices. Making 1 GB the minimum for iOS devices will bloat everything, as the top of the line iPhone will also have the minimum ram. Apps will get even more power hungry and it would become a disaster. Apple needs to anchor iOS somewhere do it doesn't outgrow 1GB devices, and 512 MB A5 devices would probably be a good place.
Im all for technology moving forward etc but if it got to the stage with new apps that the a5 chip or battery in my 4s couldnt cope with then it would be time to move on but its not the case at the moment and im surprised at so many 4s haters on this thread that probabaly havent tried it on IOS 8, its without a doubt the best phone i have owned which isnt saying much if you know my previous phones 
as afore mentioned Apple still selling devices with A5 chip and would be a strange decision if didnt support the next update imo,Thoughts.....
as afore mentioned Apple still selling devices with A5 chip and would be a strange decision if didnt support the next update imo,Thoughts.....It's high time Apple dropped support for older hardware so innovation can move forward. It also doesn't even support the Apple Watch or half the new features of iOS 8 anyway so why give it iOS 9?
The 4S is still a functional phone with iOS 8, just like the 4 is with 7. Many people are happy not being on the latest possible firmware, as proven by lots of of people still running Android phones with Gingerbread (a 2010 OS), in 2015. It all depends on your needs.
The 4S is still a functional phone with iOS 8, just like the 4 is with 7. Many people are happy not being on the latest possible firmware, as proven by lots of of people still running Android phones with Gingerbread (a 2010 OS), in 2015. It all depends on your needs.
i don't feel that my 4S is owed iOS 9, but i will continue to advocate that apple should let us roll it back to previous OS's that the device supported.
no baloney about security concerns either, as by that logic, all devices that were never upgraded in the first place should get bricked by apple, too.
of course that is the elephant in the room, that a lot of us (myself included) pretty much do implicitly endorse the mentality that we must buy and throw away all these electronics in bulk every 3 years (if not sooner.)
i'm not a luddite and i'm all for continually pushing the envelope in technology, but there is a weird lack of moderation. i recognize that when i got my first iPhone, i was amazed by the possibilities of mobile computing it offered. but now i feel the pressure to upgrade every few years, not because i desperately want the newest 10% of features, but simply to be able to continue using the 90% i became accustomed to, that became increasingly slow and buggy through 3 major OS revisions (that i'm not obliged to upgrade to - unless i need to restore, or what about those security concerns??)
no baloney about security concerns either, as by that logic, all devices that were never upgraded in the first place should get bricked by apple, too.
of course that is the elephant in the room, that a lot of us (myself included) pretty much do implicitly endorse the mentality that we must buy and throw away all these electronics in bulk every 3 years (if not sooner.)
i'm not a luddite and i'm all for continually pushing the envelope in technology, but there is a weird lack of moderation. i recognize that when i got my first iPhone, i was amazed by the possibilities of mobile computing it offered. but now i feel the pressure to upgrade every few years, not because i desperately want the newest 10% of features, but simply to be able to continue using the 90% i became accustomed to, that became increasingly slow and buggy through 3 major OS revisions (that i'm not obliged to upgrade to - unless i need to restore, or what about those security concerns??)
While I'm a newbee to iPhones and more than happy with my 4s there is something inside me telling me to get the 5 or 5s and have become a bit obsessed at upgrading for no apparent reason I don't know if I have caught the so called "Apple bug" and also on the afore mentioned post what is the 90% of things that became a problem on older devices so I can keep an eye out for any issues on my ancient phone # Thoughts.....
They need to support older hardware so they can make iOS run well on newer devices. iOS 8 is the only OS that I've ever seen stutter on the most recent hardware (iPhone 6). They need to get iOS ram usage down and what better way then to make it run on 512 MB of ram. Making the minimum requirements the same as the current max iPhone ram is a terrible idea.
Lets the majority of iPad users are on A5 iPads, and there are far more people on the 4S than on the 4, 3GS etc at this time of the year in previous years.
No reason to not support the 4S considering its likely to be a performance update.
The 4S got most iOS 8 features and in addition to that it doesn't matter how many features it got.
The 4S running iOS 9 is a handicap to future software. In a closed ecosystem the newest software is only as powerful as the weakest device that can run it.
Certain features can be left out for the 4S but that doesn't change the core functioning of the OS as a whole.
I used a 4S up until a week ago for work and even then I didnt want it to get iOS 9. I was experiencing slow downs starting at iOS 7. By iOS 8 I had near every visual feature turned off. Even the basics like opening the phone app were lagged and cause me to misdial (my thumb was faster then it could reload). Web browsing was a pain from constant reloads. And you could tell that devs weren't optimizing for the screen size as well as they could have.
Point is if they aren't optimizing very well in iOS 8 then they aren't going to in iOS 9. And if it gets iOS 9 all its going to do is provide a bad user experience and poor PR with forced obsolescence.
Let the poor 4S die with dignity!
Certain features can be left out for the 4S but that doesn't change the core functioning of the OS as a whole.
I used a 4S up until a week ago for work and even then I didnt want it to get iOS 9. I was experiencing slow downs starting at iOS 7. By iOS 8 I had near every visual feature turned off. Even the basics like opening the phone app were lagged and cause me to misdial (my thumb was faster then it could reload). Web browsing was a pain from constant reloads. And you could tell that devs weren't optimizing for the screen size as well as they could have.
Point is if they aren't optimizing very well in iOS 8 then they aren't going to in iOS 9. And if it gets iOS 9 all its going to do is provide a bad user experience and poor PR with forced obsolescence.
Let the poor 4S die with dignity!
The 4S running iOS 9 is a handicap to future software. In a closed ecosystem the newest software is only as powerful as the weakest device that can run it.
Certain features can be left out for the 4S but that doesn't change the core functioning of the OS as a whole.
I used a 4S up until a week ago for work and even then I didnt want it to get iOS 9. I was experiencing slow downs starting at iOS 7. By iOS 8 I had near every visual feature turned off. Even the basics like opening the phone app were lagged and cause me to misdial (my thumb was faster then it could reload). Web browsing was a pain from constant reloads. And you could tell that devs weren't optimizing for the screen size as well as they could have.
Point is if they aren't optimizing very well in iOS 8 then they aren't going to in iOS 9. And if it gets iOS 9 all its going to do is provide a bad user experience and poor PR with forced obsolescence.
Let the poor 4S die with dignity!
Its not a handicap! Its a way that Apple can actually make iOS run properly again. iOS 8 is a disaster even on A7 and A8 devices as it is not well optimised for ram usage. Solution = design it around a 512 MB ram device to ensure it uses less. iOS 9 looks set to be an optimisation release so its not like its impossible for them to do this.
I know plenty of satisfied iPhone 4S users and my Mum's 4S is still speedy. In fact iOS 8 on the 4S is not that much slower than iOS 5 (I'm looking for the comparison video now).
The Touch 5 is still for sale, and the touch 5 is identical to the 4S speed wise, so since Apple almost always does (and should do), it will get a year of support after discontinuation.
iOS 8 is not optimised for anything. It is atrocious on brand new hardware so that would tell me there was next to no optimisation.
Nah. it's the opposite. If the 5 becomes a minimum, DEVs will look at the 1gb RAM/A6 performance and start slacking. Working with a 512 baseline will encourage tighter code which will run good on older hardware and even better on newer stuff. A smaller memory footprint by the OS leads to more user apps held in memory.
Basically, the longer the 4S is supported, the better it will run on newer devices. iOS7 for example runs nicely on the 4S when the 4 was the baseline. If the 4 wasn't the baseline, the .1 optimizations for 7 may not have even taken place.
A good example is android.. those phones are crazy in terms of performance but since the OS isn't as refined, the hardware is somewhat wasted.
Basically, the longer the 4S is supported, the better it will run on newer devices. iOS7 for example runs nicely on the 4S when the 4 was the baseline. If the 4 wasn't the baseline, the .1 optimizations for 7 may not have even taken place.
A good example is android.. those phones are crazy in terms of performance but since the OS isn't as refined, the hardware is somewhat wasted.
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While I agree that optimizing the code for lower amount is RAM is a good things, they could still drop the 4S. I know you stated earlier that they won't drop it for arbitrary reasons, but they easily can by saying that the iOS 9 experience isn't suited for the 3.5" display. The 4S is the only 3.5" device left on Apple's support roster, and they could easily dismiss it for that. By a similar measure, I feel Apple might just drop the iPad 2 from the list because it hasn't been sold in a while. What better way to aid your declining tablet sales than to drop support for the most widely used iPad? Granted, that move would anger a lot of customers, but it is still feasible. I have little doubt that the iPad mini and iPod touch 5 will receive iOS 9. Because they share the internals of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, those device should receive iOS 9 as well. However, as a company, Apple has the right to drop support for any device they see fit. I would love to see optimization of code for the A5 chip, but their business has to move forward; so forcing upgrades from those 4S and iPad 2 users might be something they consider.
Wouldn't matter. The 4s runs a 32-bit version of iOS versus the 5s and newer which are running a 64-bit version. Now, before you go off and say that it doesn't matter, yes it does. This is the very reason 64-bit computers need more RAM from the get-go. Look at Windows. 64-bit Windows required 2GB versus 1GB of RAM for the 32-but version. Same thing happened to OS X, it just wasn't as noticeable: Snow Leopard (the last version to support x86-32) only required 1GB of RAM for all systems meanwhile Lion (the first version to be x86-64 only) required 2GB. Jumping from Leopard to Snow Leopard also required a memory increase (512MB to 1GB) with the latter moving to Intel only.
The point I am trying to make here is the instructions are bigger and more RAM intensive in 64-bit OSes then 32-bit OSes. iOS is already fully ported to 64-bit ARM at its core, it's just 3rd party apps that are still coded in 32-bit. iOS kicks in a translator to let these apps run with no problem, just like OS X. This also uses more RAM however.
Considering the differences in instructions, 512MB of RAM on a 32-bit iOS is probably in the same memory-starved position as devices with 1GB of RAM and a 64-bit iOS. The only device that escaped this was the iPhone 5 since its 32-bit and had 1GB of RAM.
Sure there is. Not only does the 4s have half the RAM of newer iPhones, but it's also 500MHz slower then the iPhone 5 and has one less GPU core. Plus, why spend the time optimizing an OS for a piece of hardware that's almost 4 years old and entering legacy status?
The other problem Apple is facing is the fact they elected to continue selling A5 devices in 2015. They probably wouldn't have done this if they weren't going to support the A5 in iOS 9. The iPod touch 5th Gen, iPad mini 1st Gen and Apple TV all still use the A5.
I still think it will be unsupported, and the Touch won't get iOS 9 either since it runs on the same hardware.
The iPod 4G had iOS 4, 5 and 6. The 5 has had 6, 7 and now 8. iPod touches age very badly, which is why mine is still on iOS 6 and not 8.
I'd like apps that are more battery efficient and yet still take full advantage of modern hardware (including games) -- meaning iPhone 5 or higher, not developers wasting time supporting a phone that will soon be 4 years old and which Apple barely supports feature and performance-wise.
Legacy hardware should age gracefully, not be forced to run the latest and greatest at 1/3 of what its newer brothers can. And since Apple pretty much enforces updates if you're not jailbroken, many users have a below par experience.
The iPod 4G had iOS 4, 5 and 6. The 5 has had 6, 7 and now 8. iPod touches age very badly, which is why mine is still on iOS 6 and not 8.
I'd like apps that are more battery efficient and yet still take full advantage of modern hardware (including games) -- meaning iPhone 5 or higher, not developers wasting time supporting a phone that will soon be 4 years old and which Apple barely supports feature and performance-wise.
Legacy hardware should age gracefully, not be forced to run the latest and greatest at 1/3 of what its newer brothers can. And since Apple pretty much enforces updates if you're not jailbroken, many users have a below par experience.
Logically if they get iOS running faster than iOS 8, there is no reason not to support it. Its pretty certain that iOS 9 will not be a feature heavy release and thus Apple has had the time to improve performance.
Apple made the decision to sell the Touch 5 into 2015, so it obviously thinks that the 4S has suitable hardware for 2015. There are more people than ever on the 4S, compared to other iPhones at this time of the year, as the 4S sold far more at the time. Apple could just for once do something nice for its customers and the environment and give the 4S another year of support, as I said there is no reason not to if iOS 9 is coded better than iOS 8 and thus uses less resources.
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Yes this is my point. Making 1 GB of ram the minimum while it is also the standard on high end iOS devices (iPad Mini 3 and iPhone 6) is just a crazy crazy idea.
I understand your logic but its just not possible. More demanding software requires more powerful hardware. A wall was being hit since before Swift and if iOS apps are to remain relevant then they need to advance.
We can't just say "optimize for 512 mb of ram!" and expect their not to be compromises. Even the best devs have blogs about iOS RAM limits. Regardless, write software for a device with 512 mb of RAM and you get a software written for 512 mb of RAM...ahem...handicapped...
Apple abandons devices because devs don't have the luxury of leaving out underpowered devices like they do with a desktop OS (system requirements). Software that runs "ok" on slower/older hardware will still run better on faster/newer hardware regardless of optimization. They also need to take into account skill level. They can't be unreasonable and expect every dev (including their own) to be masters of their trade no matter how intuitive they make their dev pack. Which btw is why Apple focus on that so much.
For me, there was a clear step in performance between the 4S, 5 and 5S. Moving between the 5S and 6 is where the performance became negligible. I also have no problem with iOS performance on newer devices although its been taking more time to get them sorted out (iOS 8.3) then in the past. In my experience the 4S performance is identical to the behavior of every iPhone on its last release of iOS since their release, poor at best.
There is a lot of technical aspects to this too. We are talking whether the 4S gets iOS 9, not RAM. You are using optimization as a blanket statement. In reality focus would need to be put directly on the 4S and its hardware which is diverting a devs attention away from where the market is on the iPhone 5 and newer.
Write software that will run in the confines of 512MB of ram and it will run better under 1 GB of ram. Write iOS so it uses as little RAM as possible leaving space for Safari for example, so you can have more than two tabs open without reloading. There is no handicap if iOS 9 is going to be a performance based update. Sure I can see some new features, but guess what, Apple can leave them off the 512MB of ram devices. They've done it many times before. The 3GS missed out on iOS 6 features. The iPhone 4 missed out on iOS 6 and 7 features. All the A5 devices really need is the base OS and minimal new things to ensure continued access to the App store and security updates.
Lollypop works well on 512MB of ram, so there is not reason Apple can't get iOS 9 to run on the 4S. Perhaps if we were talking a release with lots of power sapping features, I'd agree that the 4S would not get it but considering Apple is still selling two devices pretty similar to the 4S, then they're obviously indent that iOS 9 runs reasonably well on A5/512MB of ram devices.
If they're after performance they need to get RAM usage down. 1 GB of ram is not enough for iOS 8 to work properly. There shouldn't be stuttering on the A7 and A8 devices but there is. Microsoft has done a similar thing with Windows 7 and 8 - Both have improved on efficiency with lower end computers.
Devs supporting lower end devices is only a good thing. Given high end specs will just lead to apps with higher and higher requirements (for no real reason) leading to stuff becoming outdated fast.
Raise the minimum ram with iOS 9 and you suddenly have the iPhone 6 having the minimum requirements for iOS 9 and that would not work well.