Haven't seen any rumors or discussions regarding RAM. Since they did 4GB and 6GB on the base and pro models, perhaps it's time to bump to 6GB for all models?
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Other Are there any rumors on how much RAM the iPhone 13 will have for the non-pro models?
- Thread starter amoebas
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With the chip shortages, I can see Apple keeping them at 4GB.
I've seen everybody skimping on RAM. Samsung skimped on the S21 to just 8GB of RAM (S20 5G had 12GB).
On the bright side, with iOS still needing to maintain iPhones with 2GB of RAM (iPhone 7 and 8), I don't see 4GB being too low as most developers would still need to optimise their apps for the lowest common denominator.
I've seen everybody skimping on RAM. Samsung skimped on the S21 to just 8GB of RAM (S20 5G had 12GB).
On the bright side, with iOS still needing to maintain iPhones with 2GB of RAM (iPhone 7 and 8), I don't see 4GB being too low as most developers would still need to optimise their apps for the lowest common denominator.
Likely 6GB on the base model. Apple can pass on costs if necessary and they prioritize user experience rather than cost.
So what will the two pro models have, if you had to make an educated guess? I just got turned onto this topic of RAM for an iPhone after assuming they al had the same amount. Once I realized an iPad Pro could have different levels of RAM based on storage, I am now investigating this for iPhones. I am currently running an iPhone X and plan to get the iPhone 13, but wanted to get one that had more RAM.
What about 6GB of RAM for the base models and 8GB of RAM for the pro?
Apple don't tend to do consecutive RAM bumps unless there's a feature that specifically requires more. If they do go for 6GB across the board or 6GB for the 13 and 8GB for the 13 Pro it will most likely be with an eye to longevity now phones are getting 6-7+ years of OS support, and the oldest supported models largely dictate the ecosystem standard.
They've done it in the past. The iphone XS had 4GB RAM while the iPhone XR that was released alongside had 3GB RAM. The following year, all iphone 11 models had 4GB RAM
No need for rumours, apple will stick with 4gb ram for the non pro models and 6gb ram for the pro models.
Chip shortage at the A-Series CPU level is irrelevant because they do not use external chip packages to make RAM. Rather the entire RAM chip is on the same die as the CPU, a 4-in-1 solution. Hence, limitation is if Apple wants larger RAM in their A-series future state.
That said.... no rumors thus far for more RAM in a immediate future A-series chip. But Apple has been known to throw curve balls (like 64-bit) from time to time.
I'm pretty convinced RAM would stay the same as for the 12 lineup.
Keep in mind the 2 extra GB of RAM of 12 Pro are used for computational photography. Even a power user should not be impacted between 4 and 6 GB RAM. iOS is extremely efficient on RAM usage and before 6 GB add a perceptible boost in speed / confort beyond very specific cases (computational photography) you can wait 2 years minimum easily IMO. You will probably consider another phone at this time.
Don't get me wrong extra RAM is always cool but improvement are easier to notice on different specs IMO (battery capacity, refresh rate, optics, modem efficiency etc)
Keep in mind the 2 extra GB of RAM of 12 Pro are used for computational photography. Even a power user should not be impacted between 4 and 6 GB RAM. iOS is extremely efficient on RAM usage and before 6 GB add a perceptible boost in speed / confort beyond very specific cases (computational photography) you can wait 2 years minimum easily IMO. You will probably consider another phone at this time.
Don't get me wrong extra RAM is always cool but improvement are easier to notice on different specs IMO (battery capacity, refresh rate, optics, modem efficiency etc)
The same could've been said about older devices with less RAM. There's nothing wrong with technology moving forward. The extra 2GB RAM can also be used for holding apps in the background as well, which is good for long term. A few YouTube videos have demonstrated the advantages. There's no disadvantage to future proofing devices.
I don't think they will, since Apple has always been so (successfully) cheap with RAM. But at this point I'm not even sure if it would change something.
Seriously, RAM will always be an important factor, but the experience is soooo damn smooth with the iPhone 12 already. I would base my upgrade on other specs for the iPhone 13.
Seriously, RAM will always be an important factor, but the experience is soooo damn smooth with the iPhone 12 already. I would base my upgrade on other specs for the iPhone 13.
When and if Apple decides to put 6GB of RAM into the base models, then the people that said 4GB RAM is enough will just eat their words.
Even last year's $599 iPad Air comes with 4GB RAM. I seriously doubt this year's $799 iPhone will come with 4GB.
No matter how "efficient" iOS is, RAM usage is increasing. There's a reason why Apple puts in 8/16GB on the iPad Pro.
No matter how "efficient" iOS is, RAM usage is increasing. There's a reason why Apple puts in 8/16GB on the iPad Pro.
Seriously. Drives me nuts seeing people say that it’s not needed when I have half my apps close themselves if I step away and go open a webpage and almost all my apps close themselves if I go take a picture — and I have a 12 Pro Max with 6GB!
Apps on a desktop OS like MacOS or Windows don't utilize RAM in the same way apps on iOS utilize RAM.
On a desktop the OS manages RAM and will utilize swap files on the HDD/SSD. Although more rare now a day you can get a low memory error on a desktop if the OS just can't deal with what you are trying to do.
On iOS the apps manage their ram PLUS apps need to be designed for the lowest common denominator unless particular care is taken on a device by device basis. Modern iPads for example come with more RAM and devs will program knowing this.
As soon as your app goes into its background state it needs to save user data, grab a screen grab for the multitasking bar and start freeing up resources for foreground apps. If your app is being a hog then iOS will just terminate it as a necessity to have RAM for the a foreground app to function.
So if your a dev and you make a web browser you'd want it to work with 1-2gb of RAM (whichever the weakest iOS device on iOS 14 is). Now if your app goes in the background you want to save the webpage URL but get rid of its weight, which is really only the webpage data especially the images and videos etc because that can be reloaded if needed.
Problem is even if you had 6gb of RAM you'll still want to reduce your memory footprint to prevent your app from being terminated. So a new iPhone comes out with more RAM and you still have the same behavior.
If you ever go back to an app and its kind of half way open like a web browser and the app is open, URL is there but the webpage is blank and needs to reload. That is more than likely a decision on the app. While WebKit is the standard certain web browsers will use cache in different ways to mitigate this although that comes at the expensive of docs and data which can add up QUICK if not constantly managed by the app, plus higher energy consumption.
If you go back to an app and it completely reloads as if you were opening it for the first time that is because iOS needed the memory and terminated your app.
The reason this thread or similar threads pop up with new devices is because apps haven't been updated at launch. If the issue is with Safari it will "seem" like an iOS update fixed it however the Safari app was updated with that iOS update.
I use web browsers as an example because they are the obvious example. They use a ton of memory between tabs, web pages loaded with ads, videos, high res images, etc. And there isn't a good way to mask reloading data over the network. Other apps might be able to pull data from NAND to reload an image, or its perfectly reasonable for the app to save all data on NAND/cloud because its like a word doc app.
Point is even if you had 100gb of RAM you'd experience a lot of the same behavior, however you'll generally see improvements with time as apps are updated to better utilize the RAM.
On a desktop the OS manages RAM and will utilize swap files on the HDD/SSD. Although more rare now a day you can get a low memory error on a desktop if the OS just can't deal with what you are trying to do.
On iOS the apps manage their ram PLUS apps need to be designed for the lowest common denominator unless particular care is taken on a device by device basis. Modern iPads for example come with more RAM and devs will program knowing this.
As soon as your app goes into its background state it needs to save user data, grab a screen grab for the multitasking bar and start freeing up resources for foreground apps. If your app is being a hog then iOS will just terminate it as a necessity to have RAM for the a foreground app to function.
So if your a dev and you make a web browser you'd want it to work with 1-2gb of RAM (whichever the weakest iOS device on iOS 14 is). Now if your app goes in the background you want to save the webpage URL but get rid of its weight, which is really only the webpage data especially the images and videos etc because that can be reloaded if needed.
Problem is even if you had 6gb of RAM you'll still want to reduce your memory footprint to prevent your app from being terminated. So a new iPhone comes out with more RAM and you still have the same behavior.
If you ever go back to an app and its kind of half way open like a web browser and the app is open, URL is there but the webpage is blank and needs to reload. That is more than likely a decision on the app. While WebKit is the standard certain web browsers will use cache in different ways to mitigate this although that comes at the expensive of docs and data which can add up QUICK if not constantly managed by the app, plus higher energy consumption.
If you go back to an app and it completely reloads as if you were opening it for the first time that is because iOS needed the memory and terminated your app.
The reason this thread or similar threads pop up with new devices is because apps haven't been updated at launch. If the issue is with Safari it will "seem" like an iOS update fixed it however the Safari app was updated with that iOS update.
I use web browsers as an example because they are the obvious example. They use a ton of memory between tabs, web pages loaded with ads, videos, high res images, etc. And there isn't a good way to mask reloading data over the network. Other apps might be able to pull data from NAND to reload an image, or its perfectly reasonable for the app to save all data on NAND/cloud because its like a word doc app.
Point is even if you had 100gb of RAM you'd experience a lot of the same behavior, however you'll generally see improvements with time as apps are updated to better utilize the RAM.
I wouldn't hold your breath for more ram anytime soon.
I could see it going different ways.
1. Same as 2020 with 6 on Pros and 4 on non-Pros.
2. All have 6.
3. 8 for Pros (with ProMotion) and 4 or 6 for non-Pros.
1. Same as 2020 with 6 on Pros and 4 on non-Pros.
2. All have 6.
3. 8 for Pros (with ProMotion) and 4 or 6 for non-Pros.
Give it another 4 years before we see another ram spec bump 😳😂
Actually, we may not even need to wait 4 years for another spec bump. It may come sooner. Apple has consistently increased RAM every 2-3 years on the base models since the iPhone 4s:
iphone 4s: 512 MB RAM
iphone 4S: 512 MB RAM
iphone 5: 1GB RAM
iphone 5s: 1GB RAM
iphone 6: 1GB RAM
iphone 6s: 2GB RAM
iphone 7: 2 GB (plus has 3GB)
iphone 8: 2GB (plus has 3GB)
iphone X: 3 GB
iphone XS: 4 GB
iphone 11: 4 GB
iphone 12: 4 GB (pro has 6GB)
iPad pro lineup:
1st gen: 4GB
2nd gen: 4GB
3rd gen: 4GB or 6GB
4th gen: 6GB
5th gen: 8GB or 16GB