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A9 Chip
- Thread starter butoft
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Likely either iOS 12 or iOS 13 will be the last iOS to come to A9 devices. If a miracle happens then you can expect iOS 14 to come to A9 devices but don't bank on it. iOS 12 is guaranteed though. And there is a good chance of iOS 13 coming as well.
At least IOS 15 i expect and not surprised if longer. iPhone 5 was supported on 5 IOS versions and 5s is also now on its 5th version. I also don't see any technical argument for not supporting it. The only thing is missing hevc+heif hardware encoder compared to newer A-processors and I don't see this as much of showstopper compared to lack of ram and missing 64bit support, that cut off support for earlier generations. As long as they sell it, they also have to support it some time afterwards.
Actually, given history, one should ask the question - would you want an iOS 13 or 14 on you A9 based machine?
No way will they go past iOS 14 or 15. And iOS 15 is extremely unlikely.
Even iOS 14 not guaranteed.
Depends on when this iPad will be discontinued and when all A8 based devices will be discontinued.
Currently Apple is still selling several A8 devices: iPad Mini 4, iPod Touch and iPhone 6 on certain market. Apple would have to provide iOS update to these product.
If all A8 based devices discontinued this year, then Apple would need at least do iOS 13 for these devices, otherwise these devices will be receiving less than 2 updates.
Now if that is the case, A9 based devices would receive iOS 14. iOS 15 would also possible
The iPad 2 with an A5 was supported from iOS 4 to iOS 9.
A7 devices like the iPad Air are still supported on iOS 11 (originally running iOS 7).
The A9 running iOS 14 is not unreasonable or inconsistent with past examples, especially given that Apple launched a new A9 device just last year.
A7 devices like the iPad Air are still supported on iOS 11 (originally running iOS 7).
The A9 running iOS 14 is not unreasonable or inconsistent with past examples, especially given that Apple launched a new A9 device just last year.
This. In my honest opinion, performance is far more important than the amount of updates. Who wants iOS 20 in an A9 Chip if it'll work like garbage compared to, let's say, iOS 9?
The best approach is stay on 11 or 12 and don’t move forward. It should then run well forever until the battery goes. Otherwise if keeping current, expect eventual disappointment in performance.
A8X is doing quite well up to now. Iirc, GeekBench scores of the A9 are on par with Core 2 Duo so there's a pretty decent chance that performance will still be acceptable on iOS 13/14 if it does end up supported that long. This isn't like the A5 which scores worse than the Atom.
Got an iPhone SE on iOS 11 and it feels just as fast/responsive as it did on iOS 9. Meanwhile, I was already replacing older iPhones when they reached the same age due to poor performance.
That’s hilarious, A9 will go to 2020 if not longer. A9 is the modern day A5 chips in terms of longevity.
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It wouldn’t go that long regardless. More like iOS 14 or 15
Yah iOS 12 will keep support for all current devices, lets get us a solid 64bit iOS that scales well from the A7 with 1gb of ram to the A10X with 4gb of ram. Come on Apple give iOS users their snowleapord moment
That's a very good point. There have been hints that iOS 12 will in fact focus on stability and performance and not so much additional functions like in years past with the iOS's. I think that will only extend the A9 life even longer than normal.
Scenario 1 based on current trend
iOS10 dropped A5
iOS11 dropped A6
Projecting based on that
iOS12 will drop A7
iOS13 will drop A8
iOS14 will drop A9
Scenario 2
If Apple truly decided to focus on performance on iOS12, then maybe we can add one extra year for A7 devices onward.
iOS12 won't drop any A chips
iOS13 will drop A7
iOS14 will drop A8
iOS15 will drop A9
iOS10 dropped A5
iOS11 dropped A6
Projecting based on that
iOS12 will drop A7
iOS13 will drop A8
iOS14 will drop A9
Scenario 2
If Apple truly decided to focus on performance on iOS12, then maybe we can add one extra year for A7 devices onward.
iOS12 won't drop any A chips
iOS13 will drop A7
iOS14 will drop A8
iOS15 will drop A9
If that whole thing screws my A10 family of devices out of the usual 4-5 years of support I’m not gonna be happy.
I don't think you have to worry about them dropping support for the A10 chip anytime soon or before the normal 4-5 year period. The A10 chip (A10X) is obviously is what is used in the new Pros which they just came out with a year ago or so. As much as Apple is charging for those, I don't see them dropping support anytime soon. Plus Apple needs be careful after the whole "slowing down the iPhones" incident.
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Scenario 3: iOS 13 drops support for both A7 and A8 devices.
Scenario 4: iOS 13 drops support for A7 and A8 1GB devices, iOS 14 drops support for A8 2GB devices.
I think I read somewhere that the extra 2GB of RAM on the Pro models is used to power the 120hz refresh rate. Therefore, I think that's why there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in performance of comparing the iPad 2017 9.7 vs Pro models.
Given the low price point of these new budget ipads Apple has come out with, paired with the upgrade program, why would one keep an A9 device longer than two years? I got nearly half of what I paid back for my four year old Air and paid $199 plus tax for my 2017. I’ll gladly do that every couple years.
There is quite a large performance difference in performance depending on the workload. The ram itself is very minimally reserved to handle gpu functions of the display refresh rate. Most of that ram is for better multitasking capability with the larger applications like Affinty Photo and Adobe.