A8 Chip From 4.7-Inch iPhone 6 Appears to Carry 1 GB of RAM

[MacRumors]

Last week, a wiring schematic said to be for the iPhone 6 was initially interpreted to be referring to the device's RAM, showing the same 1 GB of memory for the A8 as found in the current A7 chip. That was quickly determined to be an incorrect interpretation of component being shown in the schematic, however, and Apple's plans for RAM in the iPhone 6 have remained uncertain.

A new photo leak from Feld & Volk [Instagram page] and Sonny Dickson showing an assembled logic board from the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 has revealed a number of pieces of information already, and it appears from one of the photos that the A8 chip on the board does indeed include 1 GB of LPDDR3 RAM.

As pointed out by MacRumors forum member commander.data, a silk-screened part number on the A8 reveals that the package-on-package contains Hynix RAM. Based on Hynix's part number format, the character in the eighth position reveals the amount of RAM in the package, with an "8" denoting 8 Gb (1 GB) and a "B" denoting 16 Gb (2 GB). While it is a bit difficult to read the part number clearly given the distance and angle in the photo, our staff and several posters in our forum agree that the character very much appears to be an "8", indicating 1 GB of RAM.

Article Link: A8 Chip From 4.7-Inch iPhone 6 Appears to Carry 1 GB of RAM

 

[dlewis23]

I really hope not.

 

[TroyBoy30]

so sad

 

[rmbpuser]

Boo!

 

[Trapezoid]

They'll never sell now.

 

[Traverse]

That's highly disappointing, but maybe iOS 8 will introduce some of Mavericks memory compression technology.

 

[Creep89]

This is so sad.

 

[Dilster3k]

Noooooooooooo! NoOoooOoo0oo00ooooo... Noooooooo. #

 

[MacVault]

So hope this is false!!! But it wouldn't surprise me with Apple!

 

[donlab]

1GB to balance cost and functionality. must be magic in there.

 

[T5BRICK]

Unfortunate, but not actually surprising though.

 

[AngerDanger]

I'm sure there could be a nice spin on this:

"Enjoy the same, familiar one gigabyte of RAM experience that you've grown to love!"
"One gigabyte of RAM per screen—just the way it was meant to be."
"Get to the heart of your content more directly without all of that pesky, quickly accessed memory."

 

[mikethebigo]

As disappointed as I am, it's important to note that the iPhone operates fine on 1 GB. It's really the iPad that needs more for safari. But I agree, this will hold the iPhone back from becoming more than it is currently. Software can only be so advanced when running with limited RAM.

If Apple keeps being stingy on RAM, it would be really nice if virtual memory was added to iOS.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

First obvious "hold back" for the 6s?

But hey: we're going to get "thinner" again!

 

[SMIDG3T]

1GB of RAM on an iPhone is no issue. On an iPad, it's an issue.

Luckily, I only have the iPhone so this doesn't bother me!

 

[mikethebigo]

That's highly disappointing, but maybe iOS 8 will introduce some of Mavericks memory compression technology.

It actually already includes that technology in iOS 7.

 

[Crossmax]

Can't give customers 2 GB ram, cause the incremental cost of that extra GB of ram would ruin the margins, and shareholders would not be happy.

 

[497902]

WTF Apple?!?

 

[al256]

Between this and the 16GB of storage, I feel Tim Cook is a miser.

 

[Markiie]

Oh no......this is going to get ugly.

 

[Traverse]

It actually already includes that technology in iOS 7.

I wasn't aware of that. Then i wonder why the iPad Air's can't hold more than one or two Safari tabs. (I don't own one, but many on this forum complain about it).

 

[Rogifan]

How many people run into RAM issues with their phone? I have no issues with my 5s but my iPad Air is another story. That's what needs more RAM.

 

[Brucewaynnee]

5.5 better have at least 2gb!

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

1GB of RAM on an iPhone is no issue. On an iPad, it's an issue

So would there be any precedence of Apple releasing an alternate A-series chip about one month after rolling out a new one so that the coming iPads can go to 2GB while these new iPhones stay at 1GB.

Or do we see this as it implies: that the new iPads will use the same chip?

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

This is great news for iPhone 6S sales!