9.7-inch iPad Pro and iPhone SE Both Have 2GB RAM

[Dwalls90]

Actually your logic is not true. If there was a profound ppi increase, the iPad pro would use maybe a bit more ram but not quite much at all. Both ipad pro's have remained with apple's standard 264 ppi. The iPad pro 12.9 uses its 12 core gpu to display the over 5000000 pixels and it's enhanced resolution, it barely bothers the ram at all. The iPad pro 9.7 uses a 10 core gpu for its resolution. Apple perfectly compensated for the iPad pro 12.9 resolution by having more active gpu cores and keeping the ppi at 264 ppi which should not bother the ram much. Only applications and software affect the ram profoundly. Double pixels does not mean double ram usage......

Based on the way iOS handles putting apps to "rest", I am not a believer that more RAM will increase performance "profoundly", unless we are talking small amounts such as 512 Mb where the device is starved.

Obviously there is no direct correlation between pixel count and RAM requirements, but clearly the massive jump in pixels from the 6S+/iPad 9.7 to the iPad Pro 12.9 justified a need for additional RAM. The GPU in an iPhone doesn't have it's own allocated RAM as a Mac or PC (usually) does, where else do you think it comes from?

 

[oldmacs]

I agree, but people are appear to be implying that performance will be horrible, which is simply not the case. I think it was a cheap move by Apple, but it doesn't make the device crap.

Performance will be fine for the moment but a lot of us like to get something whcoih will last a long time. My experience of iOS devices is that RAM becomes a limit far before the processor and GPU do. A5 devices if they had 1GB of ram would be a whole lot more useful today than they are. The iPod Touch 4 and iPhone 4 had similar GPU and CPU, but the ram in the iPod Touch killed its longevity compared to the iPhone 4.

If I'm going to be shelling out horrifically high amounts of money for an iPad Pro, I want to know that it has the best specifications now to ensure it will remain useful.

 

[B4U]

Bittersweet about the SE...
Bitter: Very regret about buying the 128GB 6s now. And either the technology advanced that much in 2 years, or Apple was just being stingy about the RAM on the 5s AND the 6 since both the SE and 6s can put them inside the same size shell.
Sweet: Glad that the SE is not a degraded phone and it looks very very attractive for me to dump the 6s and go back to that smaller and better size.
Little concern about the storage size though...

 

[Dwalls90]

Then shouldn't the pro jr. get double the ram of the se? Based on that?

The pro jr is more in line size wise with the ipad pro than the se.

There are a lot of features in the SE that are uncalled for and I'm not even going to try rationalizing why Apple has done what they did. It didn't need the A9, nor the enhanced camera that is better than the 6's, but it received it anyways.

Perhaps they are moving all products to the A9 line for economies of scales benefit. In case you didn't know, when the A8 launched, it cost ~$37 to produce. When the A9 launched, it cost ~$22 to produce. Although time has elapsed, it's unlikely the A8's cost was cut in half, meaning the A9 cost the same as the A8 to Apple.

 

[gaximus]

confirmed what i thought and expected already. no more pixels to process? no more ram needed.
I will not be upgrading because its 100 usd higher price because this is not a pro model. this is an ipad air with 4 speakers and allow you to use a extra 100 usd pencil------while your ipad will wobble on its table because an protuding camera unless you also spend ~50 usd on a decent case.

im gonna wait until the iphone 7. if that still has an protuding camera i'm OUT. then i will get an adroid. Not that i like that, but apple is simply becoming less and less and less the apple that i have known a couple of years ago. protuding cameras, buggy software, mediocre upgrades in both software and hardware and still asking more and more euro for it.

I agree the protruding camera is a real reason not to upgrade, I don't use cases. Apple has gotten into the mind set of "everyone uses cases so the phone doesn't need to look good".
I might go back to the iPhone SE if they start updating it every year.
I could never switch to the android ecosystem, I like that apple cares about privacy. Plus I own one of every Apple product type (minus Mac Pro) and I love the way they work together.

 

[oldmacs]

My kid is still using our iPad 2 (512MB RAM) for his school work (done on apps). We still take it on road trips so he can watch movies and play games. It's no longer as snappy as it was when I first purchased it, but it's still a great device to have on the coffee table when you need to use the browser or YouTube and such.

The iPad Pro 10" should last years, easily. iOS is not that heavy.

The reason that the iPad 2 is still in such high use was because it had better performance and more ram than the iPad 1 - it was a big improvement, where as the iPad pro 9.7 doesn't improve on the RAM that the iPad Air 2 has had since 2014 (and really should have had since 2013).

 

[Royksöpp]

Oh please.... This flop update.

iPad Air 3:

True Tone Display - Unnecessary Gimmick.
12MP Camera/Flash - It's on an iPad, no explanation necessary.
2GB Ram - No Explanation necessary.
Apple Pencil - Add another 100 dollars to an already overpriced device. Brilliant!
599/799 Price - Overpriced hardware that is nearing the middle of it's lifespan.
iPad 3 2.0? I have a gut feeling come September both Pro's will be updated to the A10X as well as force touch.

The true star of the show is the SE. If I didn't already update to a 6s I would have put down 499 for the 64GB Space Gray in two seconds! It's a great deal and a lot of bang for your buck. Kudos to Apple for pulling that off!

 

[AxoNeuron]

Yes and a 64gb air 2 at 599(which is what it has been priced at for 2 years until yesterday) has crappy speakers, a 2 year old processor, and no pencil support. I'd gladly take 32gb with those new features.


Tried a tab s2 and quickly returned it. It can't hold a candle to the tablet experience that you get on an iPad. The android tablet experience is still a nightmare. Tried the note 5, the surface pro 3, and many other android and Windows devices and they all fall short of the experience you get on an Apple device. Apple has never competed on specs, but they've always had a better user experience. That was the case in 2010, and it's the case now.

Samsung can put 8 gigs of ram in the note 6 but it's still not going to run as smoothly as an iPhone.

I've never understood this pseudo-religious criticism of the Android user experience. Maybe two years ago it was valid. But these past few years, Android to me seems superior to iOS in most respects. Android is FAR more powerful than iOS is, especially for power users.

Perhaps you should have called Samsung customer service to troubleshoot your problems with the Tab S2, because in my experience it's been far better than my iPad Air 2. Significantly faster, can hold more tabs open in Chrome, much more gorgeous display, expandable SD card, the list goes on and on. They even managed to beat Apple at their own game by making the Tab S2 thinner.

Pretty much the only criticism of Android that is still valid is security. You probably shouldn't get one for your Grandma if she is prone to opening suspicious emails. But if you have even a small modicum of common sense it really isn't an issue.

 

[Toltepeceno]

I posted to the comment that size difference is the reason the pro 12 has twice the ram of the "pro" 9.7. If that were true the se would have even less. It doesn't so size apparently has nothing to do with it.

Adios thread.

There are a lot of features in the SE that are uncalled for and I'm not even going to try rationalizing why Apple has done what they did. It didn't need the A9, nor the enhanced camera that is better than the 6's, but it received it anyways.

Perhaps they are moving all products to the A9 line for economies of scales benefit. In case you didn't know, when the A8 launched, it cost ~$37 to produce. When the A9 launched, it cost ~$22 to produce. Although time has elapsed, it's unlikely the A8's cost was cut in half, meaning the A9 cost the same as the A8 to Apple.

 

[Ixidor]

I bought a brand new iPad Air 2 last year (on a massive discount) but was initially hoping to buy the new iPad Pro for the Apple Pencil support.

The iPad Air 2 is really fast so the A9X doesn't seem to be a big deal for me. So in this case, the 2GB RAM in the new iPad Pro really hurts. Since the performance between the Air 2 and the new IPP will not be that far off, if I do indeed upgrade, it'll be like paying "one grand" for the Apple Pencil. Totally not worth it.

 

[AxoNeuron]

Honestly the new iPad Pro is a PERFECT example of why iPad sales have been so awful. They're just not competitive with the Android tablets. Not even close.

People are sick of getting screwed over by Apple. Apple has had this coming for a long time now. I hope iPad sales continue to get worse and worse until Apple finally decided to catch up to where Samsung was a few years ago (expandable storage, AMOLED display, more RAM, etc)
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At least quote something reasonable, the reason some manufacturers are throwing in 3GB RAM in to cheap tablets are the same ones bundling them with poor batteries, poor processors and running unoptimised skinned and older versions of Android. The same manufacturers don't support the device for 5+ years either, if anything they pump out tablets to the rate of a dozen or more a year.

The iPad is the quality of the device, it is the usability of the OS, it is the long level of support, it is the volume of apps, it is more than the sum of its specs. Apple has always been more than spec sheets and always will be. Go try the $350 tablet and be happy.....

Honestly NONE of your criticisms are even close to being valid

1. The TAB S2 battery quality is every bit as good as the battery in iPads, given its physical size...where do you think Apple gets their batteries from...?

2. I would hardly call the Tab S2 processor 'poor'. You will be feeling pinched by that puny 2GB of RAM long before the Tab S2 starts to feel slow. Speaking as a software developer, I actually notice WAYYY more UI slowdowns on my 1.5 year old iPhone 6 Plus than on my much older Galaxy Note 2, because Apple stuck the 6 plus with a wimpy 1GB of RAM. No amount of wishful thinking will fix poor specs, sorry.

3. The Tab S2 is running Android 6.0 and the skin, in my experience, isn't slow at all. A whole bunch of Apple fanboys tried a Galaxy device a few years ago, thought it was slow, and think it's still the same way, but it's not. Android has improved significantly over the last few years. The UI on the Tab S2 is every bit as responsive as iOS 9, and is MUCH more useful and customizable.

4. Sure, the same way the iPhone 4 got years of support? What a joke. No amount of software updates can fix poor specs, and in two years that new iPad Pro is gonna be awfully slow with that puny and pathetic 2GB RAM. No software update can fix that, sorry.

 

[loopmein]

Have you used 3D Touch? It's extremely useful on a phone.

I've tried it out on my friend's 6S+, and it's great. I also have a Magic Trackpad 2, and after having used it for one week, it's wonderful. However, the lack of 3D touch is not a gigantic big deal - I am used to 2D touch, works very well, and is available on a HUGE variety of devices
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Honestly the new iPad Pro is a PERFECT example of why iPad sales have been so awful. They're just not competitive with the Android tablets. Not even close.

People are sick of getting screwed over by Apple. Apple has had this coming for a long time now. I hope iPad sales continue to get worse and worse until Apple finally decided to catch up to where Samsung was a few years ago (expandable storage, AMOLED display, more RAM, etc)
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Honestly NONE of your criticisms are even close to being valid

1. The TAB S2 battery quality is every bit as good as the battery in iPads, given its physical size...where do you think Apple gets their batteries from...?

2. I would hardly call the Tab S2 processor 'poor'. You will be feeling pinched by that puny 2GB of RAM long before the Tab S2 starts to feel slow.

3. The Tab S2 is running Android 6.0 and the skin, in my experience, isn't slow at all. A whole bunch of Apple fanboys tried a Galaxy device a few years ago, thought it was slow, and think it's still the same way, but it's not. Android has improved significantly over the last few years. The UI on the Tab S2 is every bit as responsive as iOS 9, and is MUCH more useful and customizable.

4. Sure, the same way the iPhone 4 got years of support? What a joke. No amount of software updates can fix poor specs, and in two years that new iPad Pro is gonna be awfully slow with that puny and pathetic 2GB RAM. No software update cab fix that, sorry.

Phandroid detected

 

[nia820]

So what's exactly is "to pro" about the 9.7 version. It's look more like an ipad air 3 to me. Apple cheaping out on yet another product.

I thought for sure it would have had 4 gigs of ram like it's big sister.

 

[loopmein]

Do what's exactly "pro" about the 9.7 version. It's look more like an ipad air 3 to me. Apple cheaping out on yet another product.

Faster CPU, better camera, colour temp balanced panel, more compact & Pencil support. If you don't want one, don't buy one (and by extension, don't discuss it and save time) - simple

 

[AxoNeuron]

Phandroid detected

I have owned iPhones since the original back in 2007. I love Apple, or at least I used to. But I'm absolutely SICK of paying such high prices for such awful devices. Yes, awful. I'm sick and tired of seeing Apple put out devices that would have been considered a mid range Android device a year ago.

When Apple stops trying to rip people off with such blatantly awful devices, maybe iPad sales won't be so awful. Apple devices have a few advantages, such as good customer service and prompt software updates, but NONE of these fixed the iPad 3 becoming ridiculously slow after only a year because of awful specs. That seems to have become the norm for Apple, release devices with poor & uncompetitive specs so that when it becomes slow in a year people will upgrade.

My Nexus 5X is an amazing phone and I paid less than $300 for it. Display is every bit as good as the 6S plus, and it comes with MORE storage (32GB vs Apple's ridiculous 16GB). Yet Apple seems to be stuck in 2011 and is STILL puking out 16GB devices. Unbelievable.

 

[jeremiah256]

The reason that the iPad 2 is still in such high use was because it had better performance and more ram than the iPad 1 - it was a big improvement, where as the iPad pro 9.7 doesn't improve on the RAM that the iPad Air 2 has had since 2014 (and really should have had since 2013).

Use case is important, but I think a lot of people are getting hung up on the 'Pro' portion of the iPad Pro naming convention. If you're buying a device that you'll use as the family tablet, like we've used our iPad 2, or even as your personal light weight go-to device when you're on the road, like I use my Surface 3, then to be honest an iPad Air 2 is still a great choice. And especially with iOS 9 (which has a smaller, more efficient footprint than iOS 8), the iPad Air 2 will last for five years, easy.

As for the iPad Pro line, both versions of the iPad Pro are capable of handling 4K video (most homes don't have 4K capable tvs) and Apple continues to push that the apps built for iOS must confirm to standards that try and limit them from being RAM hogs. You are not loading massive RAM intensive desktop level programs into memory on your iPads. Apple's fanaticism for 'thinness' extends to software.

 

[StyxMaker]

I don't understand why people want to sell their iPhone 6S and get SE instead. Don't they realize that the screen is smaller?

Yes, they do, that's why they are buying it.

 

[Osty]

Yea, I have no problem with android's apps, etc. With the tablet though there were a lot of apps not optimized for tablets. Kind of like tablets are the red headed stepchild of android. The pure I have is half the price of a 6s plus and I like it better than ios. I don't like marshmallow so son't know where that is going.

I mostly use the ipad for playing around, games, etc. and just surfing the internet. Possibly a chromebook in the future and dropping ios completely as I was going to do with the shield. I'm running a mac mini, will have to see if they keep messing up that line or not or even if they keep it. If they drop it and the macbook air line then I am priced out of mac's.

I'm with you on this. I had a Nexus 7 and while it was a nice device, the apps just weren't optimised for tablets. Android is first and foremost a phone OS in the hearts and minds of most - including developers.

My iPad mini has been a pleasure to use as a replacement for consumption and light productivity.

I have a Mac mini too and don't hold much faith in the future of the line. Apple will either get rid of it or will continue to hobble it until it's barely fit for anything other than basic consumption or as management hub for iOS devices. I'll hold on to it until it breaks.

In truth, there's not much left on OS X that's exclusive enough for me to hold much loyalty to the platform. Almost everything I need is on Linux and the stuff that isn't - itunes, icloud, Adobe - works just fine under Windows. I can't see myself ever buying a Mac again: laptops and all-in-ones that are glued and soldered have zero appeal to me.

 

[loopmein]

I have owned iPhones since the original back in 2007. I love Apple, or at least I used to. But I'm absolutely SICK of paying such high prices for such awful devices. Yes, awful. I'm sick and tired of seeing Apple put out devices that would have been considered a mid range Android device a year ago.

When Apple stops trying to rip people off with such blatantly awful devices, maybe iPad sales won't be so awful. Apple devices have a few advantages, such as good customer service and prompt software updates, but NONE of these fixed the iPad 3 becoming ridiculously slow after only a year because of awful specs. That seems to have become the norm for Apple, release devices with poor & uncompetitive specs so that when it becomes slow in a year people will upgrade.

My Nexus 5X is an amazing phone and I paid less than $300 for it. Display is every bit as good as the 6S plus, and it comes with MORE storage (32GB vs Apple's ridiculous 16GB). Yet Apple seems to be stuck in 2011 and is STILL puking out 16GB devices. Unbelievable.

That's nice. Anything else, or are you done trying to troll by intentionally sitting in the middle of an Apple thread on an Apple forum, slating Apple products and bumming up Samsung, and expecting to be backed up?

 

[capathy21]

I've never understood this pseudo-religious criticism of the Android user experience. Maybe two years ago it was valid. But these past few years, Android to me seems superior to iOS in most respects. Android is FAR more powerful than iOS is, especially for power users.

Perhaps you should have called Samsung customer service to troubleshoot your problems with the Tab S2, because in my experience it's been far better than my iPad Air 2. Significantly faster, can hold more tabs open in Chrome, much more gorgeous display, expandable SD card, the list goes on and on.

Several reasons I had no use for the tab s2. Battery life was about half of what I got on an air 2. Android app optomization for tablets is terrible. There is nothing close to iMessage to sync messages between a Samsung tablet and phone like you can with an iPhone and iPad. Side sync was a poor substitute. Yes the tab s2 is a nice device. Good display, expandable memory, etc, but even when I went all in and got the Samsung phone and tablet together, the user experience was lacking. It was like using two completely unrelated products..

I've used android phones on and off for years. There is a lot of flexibility in the operating system, ability to customize, tinker, root, set various apps as default, etc. At one point, I viewed those things as positives but when I gave it another run this time, it was just a headache.

Different strokes for different folks but for me, the user experience of iOS is reliable, and does everything I need it to do. The seamless integration between Apple devices is far better than any of the competition.

 

[DoctorTech]

The 2 GB of RAM is disappointing but I am still upgrading from the IPA2 for the Tru-Tone display, upgraded camera & flash, quad speakers, and pencil support.

 

[nia820]

Faster CPU, better camera, colour temp balanced panel, more compact & Pencil support. If you don't want one, don't buy one (and by extension, don't discuss it and save time) - simple

But those upgrades don't make it "pro". The pencil support is the only thing that actually stands out.

My concern about the ram is apps crashing and getting the most years out of my iPad wihtout it slowly down drastically. When ipad air 2 was introduced 2gb was just enough. But now they need to boost the ram( especially since it's supposed to be a pro product). Otherwise when ios 10 rolls around apps are going to start crashing on the ipad pro 9.7 and Web pages will refresh like crazy. This is my concern.

I'm probably still going to get one because I really want the rose told ipad. But I'm a little concerned of the longevity of this ipad and how well it's going to perform.
.

 

[nando87]

I've never understood this pseudo-religious criticism of the Android user experience. Maybe two years ago it was valid. But these past few years, Android to me seems superior to iOS in most respects. Android is FAR more powerful than iOS is, especially for power users.

Perhaps you should have called Samsung customer service to troubleshoot your problems with the Tab S2, because in my experience it's been far better than my iPad Air 2. Significantly faster, can hold more tabs open in Chrome, much more gorgeous display, expandable SD card, the list goes on and on. They even managed to beat Apple at their own game by making the Tab S2 thinner.

Pretty much the only criticism of Android that is still valid is security. You probably shouldn't get one for your Grandma if she is prone to opening suspicious emails. But if you have even a small modicum of common sense it really isn't an issue.

Customer service stability and updates

 

[StyxMaker]

Yeah no surprise...2GB should be the absolute minimum for any iOS device with iOS 9 specially.
My 14 months old iPad Mini 2 Retina is so slow and laggy nowadays,just annoying to use sadly due to stupid 1GB Ram they put into it.

Really? My iPad Mini 2 Retina is doing great on iOS 9.3 has not slowed at all.

 

[Traverse]

The RAM size that will be not enough for the new iOS to be a pleasant user experience, probably very soon after Air2 faces the same fate. For me iPad is mostly an expnsive toy, and I don't want it to become slow after a year or so.

For the one who will use it for some professional stuff it will be, probably, less critical; it has the chance to justify the expense by the time it becomes obsolete. I expect very little professional usage of an iPad for myself (an average 2-4 years old laptop is fine for _my_ work needs, but iPads are nowhere there), so the only justification of the tablet cost for me will be it's ability to provide me "communicator, player and browser" functions as long as possible without becoming non responsive/glitchy/etc.

Fair enough. I would not buy the Pro for a passive toy, but I have sorely wanted to get into digital drawing and take a lot of notes/annotations on PDFs. The Pencil will be huge for me, thus I can justify it. I just don't see a device this powerful become glitchy/unresponsive as a result of 2GB of RAM. If anything, it will face refresh problems, but judging Apple's history, 2GB is here to stay for a while aside from the 13" Pro, but they need something to give it an edge.
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Performance will be fine for the moment but a lot of us like to get something whcoih will last a long time. My experience of iOS devices is that RAM becomes a limit far before the processor and GPU do. A5 devices if they had 1GB of ram would be a whole lot more useful today than they are. The iPod Touch 4 and iPhone 4 had similar GPU and CPU, but the ram in the iPod Touch killed its longevity compared to the iPhone 4.

If I'm going to be shelling out horrifically high amounts of money for an iPad Pro, I want to know that it has the best specifications now to ensure it will remain useful.

I agree, but those instance where jumps from 256 MB to 512 MB and to 1GB.

All devices below 1GB have displayed problems will multitasking. 2GB of RAM in the Air 2 was considered the "longevity" model just a few months ago due to a night and day difference. OS X can function on 2GB of RAM too. I think 2GB is the sweat spot for iOS for some time.

4GB would be great, but I don't think 2GB undermines the 9.7" Pros ability. The iPhone just got 2GB of RAM and won't be chaining any time soon. The Mini 4, Air 2, and now Pro all have 2 GB of RAM with 4GB being only for the niche 13" Pro. I do not see Apple shifting all of these devices over to 4GB any time soon and developers and iOS will cater to these devices especially since that is where the iPhone is.

There would have been no downside to having 4GB (aside from battery which could have been mitigated). I'm not arguing that Apple was right, they weren't, but I don't think the 9.7" loses a tremendous amount of usefulness because of it.