Apple's last iOS update for devices with 1GB RAM was iOS 12 so obviously, even Apple thinks 1GB is not enough. Indeed, I believe 3GB is now the minimum available on currently sold iPhones and iPads.
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Other When will Apple put flagship RAM in iPhone
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Apple's last iOS update for devices with 1GB RAM was iOS 12 so obviously, even Apple thinks 1GB is not enough. Indeed, I believe 3GB is now the minimum available on currently sold iPhones and iPads.
Caveat if Apple starts using swap file on iOS: random 4K read/write on pre-A12X is around HDD level. Base storage is also low.
Implementing swap could mean both slower performance and a possible class action lawsuit (planned obsolescence) due to device failures owing to SSD death/low write endurance.
It can’t connect to a display so it doesn’t need more RAM? That’s some interesting logic. I didn’t say it was a desktop replacement. I said it’s as powerful as one. But straw manning comments is really helpful.
It may or may not need more RAM, I don't really care. I don't use my iPhone(s) as computers. But let's say it does need more RAM and Apple puts that in. We already have lots of people contemplating ditching their laptops and desktops because the iPhone is just as powerful or more than those computers. Some people solely use an iPhone for what they do. I couldn't live that way.
But whether Apple adds more ram or not is irrelevant in regards to to it being as powerful as a computer - because it isn't a computer, it's a phone, designed for a different task than computers. Maybe someday it will replace computers, finally being able to do what they can hardware wise. RAM will matter then.
But that day is not today.
A 16 GB RAM iPhone would be extremely future proof, so it won’t happen anytime soon.
16Gb iPhone will consume more power than one with less memory. There’s an important trade off here.
I just tested this and it ejected the oldest apps, sure, but most of them were still open.
None of what you're saying has any relevance to the iPhone needing more RAM. You keep talking about using it as a desktop replacement. That has nothing to do with anything. It needs more RAM in certain applications because to ... needs more RAM in certain applications. RAM matters now. There are situations in which Apple's optimization tricks don't make up for a lack of RAM. It needing more RAM has nothing to do with it being a desktop replacement. I'm not sure how you arrived at this logical fallacy but it's irrelevant to the topic at hand.
Look, the phone may need more ram, but not 16GB.
People already think it can be a desktop replacement just with the memory it has right now.
16GB of ram or more is unnecessary for the current device. People 'needing' more should put down the phone and use a computer. Only Android needs that much ram.
Dropping in that much ram is only going to further accelerate the thinking of people who want to replace their computers with an iPhone.
That's how it's relevant.
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A new iPhone with 64GB of RAM could be launched today and with 100% certainty, it would be virtually unusable and definitely unsupported 6 years from now.
In 6 years, there would be almost zero apps in the App Store that would run on it and Safari and any browser that runs on it would be crippled.
No amount of RAM can ward off Apple’s grim reaper.
Their Trillion dollar business model demands that iPhones don’t last very long.
Since there’s still plenty Macs sold with 8GB I think your point is far fetched. Support may end but the device will likely work just fine by then still.
Nobody here claimed it’s a desktop computer replacement. It’s a pocket computer and does its own thing.
No, no one specifically made that claim. But why mention that it is as powerful as one if not to infer that it could be a replacement.
I buy iPhones because I want an Apple branded phone, not a pocket computer. If Apple started advertising pocket computers that could make phone calls I would not buy one. Because I have real computers that already can make phone calls.
I'm not interested in pocket computers. I'm interested in phones and anything that Apple happens to tack on as a feature I may or may not use. But if we start cramming computer features (such as large amounts of ram) into phones then what we have is no longer a phone…it's a pocket computer - which does what? Certainly not what a full-fledged computer can do - even with oodles of RAM.
It's the same issue I have with the camera in phones and for the same reason.
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It IS necessary, just not for you. Everything you're saying has literally nothing to do with this topic. Please stop with the desktop replacement nonsense. There are already phones with this much RAM. And I know Android is less optimized than iOS, but there isn't enough optimization in the world that will fix running out of RAM. It's great you aren't ever in any situation where you need this much RAM, but you don't represent everyone ... clearly. This topic wouldn't exist if everyone was like you. Apps refreshing because RAM ran out is, in fact, a problem.
Nobody is trying to replace their computer with an iPhone. That again has literally nothing to do with the topic. We're talking about the phone, all by itself, in certain intensive applications, requiring more RAM. It's a thing or this topic wouldn't exist. So please just stop.
The only one inferring that is you. What you're doing is straw manning and it's very unhelpful. This is a weird hill to die on. Again, what you do with your phone doesn't represent everyone. Hop outside of your bubble.
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Great, you keep using the iPhone solely for phone calls then.
Doesn’t change the facts that machines are getting more performance and outperforming plenty old Macs out there.
I’m not getting into the real computer debate here. You can install software and compute, it is a computer. Nobody said desktop but yourself. Visit the App Store if you need to learn what pocket computer platforms are capable of.
Jobs introduced the thing as a phone, internet communicator (hence computer) and touchscreen iPod. The available apps have long proven that iPhone is one of the most commonly used computer platforms.
Disagree. Barring battery wear, I expect even the iPhone 13 (A15/4GB) will work mostly fine 6 years from now. I don’t see the need for 64GB RAM (that’s equal to phone storage already) but something like 8-16GB will likely help things run smoother.
We have both iPad 6th gen (A10/2GB) and 7th gen (A10/3GB) in the household and the former is noticeably laggier loading fairly mundane stuff like Settings, Messages, etc. compared to the latter.
lol Do tell what exactly do you do on an iPhone to need such ram? Certainly not multitasking which is still an embarrassment on iPhones. It doesn’t need much ram as it doesn’t take advantage of such ram
No, I unequivocally deny that.
I absolutely did not enter this discussion until @Bandaman mentioned that the iPhone was as powerful as a desktop computer.
Which is not saying it’s a replacement for one.
It’s pretty obvious that the claim was not to be a replacement but that Bandaman was referring to sheer processing power.
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RAM is used for computational photography/video, the OS will use RAM for caching and other things. RAM is shared between the CPU and the GPU. I would say iOS will use as much RAM as available.
I did say that. And iPhones are now as powerful as desktop computers. And that has absolutely nothing to do with it being a desktop replacement. It's a statement of fact that iPhone chips are now as powerful as desktop computers. At no point did I say they are desktop replacements. Something triggered you and made you feel you had to speak out about a topic nobody is even discussing but yourself. You entering the discussion to go on a rant about desktop replacements is entirely on you and has nothing to do with what I said or even the topic. Again ... weird hill to die on.
I have my 5S running the latest iOS 12 update, which I think was just released in December. Not bad support for a device released in 2013! I don’t use it for anything intensive, but for emails and Safari and a few odd games it runs surprisingly well. My SE is definitely noticeably faster, though. Thanks for the tip about the poor screen optimization with iOS 14/15: I’ll look into it and evaluate whether there’s any good reason to update.
See above. Apple’s had some weird missteps in terms of product support life (see: the original iPad), but the official support lifespan for iOS devices goes light years beyond any other manufacturer. Like I said, my 8-year-old 5S got an official update not two months ago, and apart from an aging battery it’s perfectly usable. My 6-year-old SE is still extremely usable smooth as butter on 99% of websites: I’m writing this from it right now!
Meanwhile, on the Android devices I’ve owned, I’ve only been able to keep them current beyond 2 years by flashing custom ROMs maintained by anonymous teenagers on XDA (all respect to those teenagers, but I’d prefer the manufacturer step up).
iOS 12.5.5 was released on September 23 2021
iOS 14.8 was released on September 13 2021
iOS 14.8.1 was released on October 26 2021
iPhone 5/5c has 1GB DDR2 and has 32bit processor
iPhone 5s has 1GB DDR3 and has 64bit processor
The video has been posted already but again, iOS and android manages background apps differently... android keeps the apps running in the background [like in Windows] which is why android phones now has at least 8GB RAM and some are 16GB and higher... In the case of iOS, even if you don't close the app and leave it still there on the app switcher, when you don't interact with the app for a certain period of time, the memory used by that app gets freed/released to be used by another app or the current app in use which explains when you go back to that app, the webpage/content has to be reloaded...
Now even if two devices have the same amount of RAM, another thing to be considered is the DDR generation and the clock speed [is that the correct term?] like how DDR3 has 1333, 1600, 1866, 2133 and DDR4 has 1600, 1866, 2133, 2400, 2666, etc.
We all have different use cases, we use different apps, we use our devices differently, but if you use a device that you think is hogging all the RAM and you feel that it is not enough, why not just switch to another device that has more RAM, or better yet, use a Windows or a macOS or Linux computer for that matter?
iPhone 4s and iPad 2 and iPad 3 should have remained on iOS 8.4.1 and never allowed to be upgraded to iOS 9.x for they all have 512MB DDR2 RAM and the experience is comparable to a Windows computer that has 2GB/4GB RAM with a HDD and running a 64bit Windows operating system... Takes a considerable amount of time to boot and takes almost the same amount of time when launching apps and you can at the most keep only one app active due to memory constraints...
iOS 14.8 was released on September 13 2021
iOS 14.8.1 was released on October 26 2021
iPhone 5/5c has 1GB DDR2 and has 32bit processor
iPhone 5s has 1GB DDR3 and has 64bit processor
The video has been posted already but again, iOS and android manages background apps differently... android keeps the apps running in the background [like in Windows] which is why android phones now has at least 8GB RAM and some are 16GB and higher... In the case of iOS, even if you don't close the app and leave it still there on the app switcher, when you don't interact with the app for a certain period of time, the memory used by that app gets freed/released to be used by another app or the current app in use which explains when you go back to that app, the webpage/content has to be reloaded...
Now even if two devices have the same amount of RAM, another thing to be considered is the DDR generation and the clock speed [is that the correct term?] like how DDR3 has 1333, 1600, 1866, 2133 and DDR4 has 1600, 1866, 2133, 2400, 2666, etc.
We all have different use cases, we use different apps, we use our devices differently, but if you use a device that you think is hogging all the RAM and you feel that it is not enough, why not just switch to another device that has more RAM, or better yet, use a Windows or a macOS or Linux computer for that matter?
iPhone 4s and iPad 2 and iPad 3 should have remained on iOS 8.4.1 and never allowed to be upgraded to iOS 9.x for they all have 512MB DDR2 RAM and the experience is comparable to a Windows computer that has 2GB/4GB RAM with a HDD and running a 64bit Windows operating system... Takes a considerable amount of time to boot and takes almost the same amount of time when launching apps and you can at the most keep only one app active due to memory constraints...
Because there are times when out in the field or one needs to be mobile where even an ultraportable laptop like the M1 MBA won’t cut it. Also, specialty apps might require a specific mobile OS.
I’m office-bound nowadays so I’m not all that big on phones but I’m sure there are those who use their smartphones as highly capable pocket computers.