Did we iPhone 6 owners get hosed on the A8 chip?

[CEmajr]

The 6 Plus was the most underpowered phone out of the box that Apple has ever released. I've had them all since the iPhone 3G (except the 3GS and 5C), and this was the only one that struggled with performance even on the iOS version that it originally shipped with. It became highly frustrating to be switching apps and have all of them refreshing constantly. Unable to hold anything in memory. It locked up, stuttered, and/or froze more than any other iPhone as well. I've never had to reboot an iPhone so many times before.

For instance one day I was at the store using the Mixology app to find some drink mixes and switching to Safari to find out where to buy the ingredients, each time I went back into Mixology the entire app reloaded and I would have to find the drink again, then in Safari the page would reload as well. Google Maps reloading on road trips and therefore erasing my route. Just ridiculous.

The 6S Plus on the other hand, is a performance beast and flies like no other. The poor performance (by iPhone standards) of the 6 Plus has made me appreciate the performance of this upgrade moreso than any other feature. Sometimes I even find myself waiting a few seconds when reopening apps or webpages anticipating a reload, but I have to readjust to the fact that this phone can actually hold everything in memory like it's supposed to.

 

[TommyA6]

And I don't get the arguments here. The A7 was able to handle the 2048x1536 iPad Air fine, so the even faster A8 can easily handle 1334x750 without breaking a sweat. As for the 1920x1080, it can handle that, but Apple's scaling implementation is/was less than optimal.

iPad Air 1 doesn't run "fine" on iOS 8 or 9. It runs noticeably worse than the 6 Plus.
A8 is fine for the regular 6. 6 Plus should have had a 6-core GPU because of its significantly higher resolution.
iPhone 6 Plus has 200% more pixels than the regular 6 and 270% more pixels than iPhone 5s and yet it's only 50% faster in GPU than the 5s.
6 Plus renders the UI at 2208x1242 and then downscales it to 1080p, which is even more taxing on GPU. So yeah, iPhone 6 Plus was underpowered from the beginning. Let's not even mention the pathetic 1 gb of RAM.

 

[neteng101]

The 6 Plus was the most underpowered phone out of the box that Apple has ever released.

The 6 Plus and 6S Plus are the hardest pushed phones as they have to do one extra operation per screen draw, unlike any other iOS device. Not sure if the iPad Pro might require that 3rd step as well. The 6 and 6S does require extra upsampling for display zoom apps but since its at a much lower resolution its much less taxing on the processor.

http://www.paintcodeapp.com/news/ultimate-guide-to-iphone-resolutions

The Plus has to deal with a ton more pixels so that adds a tremendous overhead so lag with animations/etc is all due to this extra burden. The 6 Plus is like any true first gen device from Apple ie. generally a really bad buy, like the original iPad or first iPhone. The 6 is more of a bump up like the 5 was a bump up from the 4 but the extra requirements isn't drastic, unlike the Plus.

A8 in the 6 is a lot more usable, A8 in the Plus was totally underpowered from the get go.

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but 6/6+ purchasers were hosed in almost every possible way. Slow (relatively) performance, unimpressive and unimaginative new features, Bendgate (for a small number of users, though) and especially for 6+ users... lag and low utilization of memory.

It's the same thing for pretty much every non-'s' cycle, unfortunately. The cycle repeats. The 5 to 4/4s was a small bump, mainly focusing on the outer design. However, the 5 was actually a bit better than the 6/6+, given the increase to 1GB of RAM vs. 512MB of RAM on the 4s and older. The 4 had Antenna-gate, and the 3G didn't even get iOS 5. The 's' cycle has always, always, always been the better choice. I'm willing to bet a lot of money that the 7/7s cycle will repeat this.

Sorry if I sound like I'm putting anyone down here. I understand some people had no choice but to buy the 6/6+ (lost/stolen/damaged previous phones) and some liked the bigger sizes. It's just, this time around, Apple really didn't give the 6/6+ a lot of love. I can definitely see that, with the 6s/6s+, Apple really is going all out with all the new features/improvements (2gb of RAM, A9, 3D Touch, a more solid exterior, etc.). If I had gotten myself a 6/6+, I would definitely feel ripped off.

That's my two cents. You're free to disagree.

 

[sunking101]

Well my 6S+ arrived today but I've been busy all afternoon and evening so only got around to unboxing & setting it up a couple of hours ago. I'm blown away, this thing flies. Even whilst installing an iCloud backup over WiFi and with indexing going on in the background I'm massively impressed. This is what the 6+ should have been. I'm seeing no lag, no reloads, smooth scrolling and everything is just fantastic so far.

 

[garirry]

The iPhone 6 and 6+ almost feels like a rushed phone; it has barely anything new, a processor not that faster than the 5S's, mediocre design IMO, bending issues, etc. I haven't used it enough myself (in fact I never owned any iPhones) to judge, but from what it looks like, it seems like it's not an excellent phone. I liked the 5S much more, from both a design and technical standpoint. Hopefully Apple won't be an idiot with the iPhone 7.

 

[ZombiePete]

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but 6/6+ purchasers were hosed in almost every possible way.

Went from a 5s to 6+ and never in any way felt hosed or cheated. I was always happy with my phone. Happy now with my 6s+. Maybe I'm just a happy guy.

 

[TommyA6]

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but 6/6+ purchasers were hosed in almost every possible way. Slow (relatively) performance, unimpressive and unimaginative new features, Bendgate (for a small number of users, though) and especially for 6+ users... lag and low utilization of memory.

It's the same thing for pretty much every non-'s' cycle, unfortunately. The cycle repeats. The 5 to 4/4s was a small bump, mainly focusing on the outer design. However, the 5 was actually a bit better than the 6/6+, given the increase to 1GB of RAM vs. 512MB of RAM on the 4s and older. The 4 had Antenna-gate, and the 3G didn't even get iOS 5. The 's' cycle has always, always, always been the better choice. I'm willing to bet a lot of money that the 7/7s cycle will repeat this.

Sorry if I sound like I'm putting anyone down here. I understand some people had no choice but to buy the 6/6+ (lost/stolen/damaged previous phones) and some liked the bigger sizes. It's just, this time around, Apple really didn't give the 6/6+ a lot of love. I can definitely see that, with the 6s/6s+, Apple really is going all out with all the new features/improvements (2gb of RAM, A9, 3D Touch, a more solid exterior, etc.). If I had gotten myself a 6/6+, I would definitely feel ripped off.

That's my two cents. You're free to disagree.

iPhone 4s to 5 was a huge performance jump (2x in CPU. and GPU, and 2x RAM). The only great thing about 6 Plus is the screen and OIS.
My dad's iPhone 5 performs as well as my 6 Plus on iOS 9. That's unacceptable for a $1000 dollar phone.

 

[sunking101]

iPhone 4s to 5 was a huge performance jump (2x in CPU. and GPU, and 2x RAM). The only great thing about 6 Plus is the screen and OIS.
My dad's iPhone 5 performs as well as my 6 Plus on iOS 9. That's unacceptable for a $1000 dollar phone.

You forgot the amazing 6+ loudspeaker and of course battery life. Otherwise give me an iPhone 5, it's a far better device overall.

 

[Noble Actual]

MacRumor never fails to disappoint.

 

[imaginex20]

I don't understand why Apple customers demand so much from the company. Apple is no different from BMW, Honda, Toyota, etc. they will put out products whenever they can.

Say for instance, BMW releases a 6 cylinder 3 series in 2015 and you purchased that car. Next year they release a 3 series 4 cylinder turbo that not only goes faster but gets better gas mileage. Does the BMW owner feel "hosed"?

 

[garirry]

I don't understand why Apple customers demand so much from the company. Apple is no different from BMW, Honda, Toyota, etc. they will put out products whenever they can.

Say for instance, BMW releases a 6 cylinder 3 series in 2015 and you purchased that car. Next year they release a 3 series 4 cylinder turbo that not only goes faster but gets better gas mileage. Does the BMW owner feel "hosed"?

I don't know anything about cars, so I can't compare that to cars. Anyway, to answer your question, the reason people demand so much from the company is because it's expensive. When you buy a $700 high-end phone, you expect great performance, and overall a great product, because when you invest that much money into a phone, it's because you want to use it, most likely daily. Most important, when you come from an older device, you expect significant improvement, especially if you just owned a 5S and getting a 6. It's a big disappointment for any person to invest $700 or more on for a new device only to think that the previous one was better.

 

[lordofthereef]

I don't understand why Apple customers demand so much from the company. Apple is no different from BMW, Honda, Toyota, etc. they will put out products whenever they can.

Say for instance, BMW releases a 6 cylinder 3 series in 2015 and you purchased that car. Next year they release a 3 series 4 cylinder turbo that not only goes faster but gets better gas mileage. Does the BMW owner feel "hosed"?

Respectfully, I don't feel that expecting performance not to decrease over the previous year's model is asking very much at all. The 6 plus, particularly, was just an underpowered phone. I would say it was he worst iPhone I've owned, and I've owned them all except for the 5C.

The 6s plus blew me away, and I was more pessimistic about its release than I was before the release of any phone before it. I liken the 6 plus to the iPad 3. It was replaced without much fanfare (the s series keynote was
Part of the reason I was pessimistic) and it far exceeded expectations.

It is what it is. The 6s plus is going to be hard to beat next year.

 

[lordofthereef]

I don't know anything about cars, so I can't compare that to cars. Anyway, to answer your question, the reason people demand so much from the company is because it's expensive. When you buy a $700 high-end phone, you expect great performance, and overall a great product, because when you invest that much money into a phone, it's because you want to use it, most likely daily. Most important, when you come from an older device, you expect significant improvement, especially if you just owned a 5S and getting a 6. It's a big disappointment for any person to invest $700 or more on for a new device only to think that the previous one was better.

We can simplify this even further and just say that Apple has a better track record than this. Aside from a nice big screen, the 6 plus was a turd. I'm not seeing anyone complain about the 6s plus performance, and for good reason. It actually performs! It's exceeding else expectations!

 

[lovetheduns]

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but 6/6+ purchasers were hosed in almost every possible way. Slow (relatively) performance, unimpressive and unimaginative new features, Bendgate (for a small number of users, though) and especially for 6+ users... lag and low utilization of memory.

It's the same thing for pretty much every non-'s' cycle, unfortunately. The cycle repeats. The 5 to 4/4s was a small bump, mainly focusing on the outer design. However, the 5 was actually a bit better than the 6/6+, given the increase to 1GB of RAM vs. 512MB of RAM on the 4s and older. The 4 had Antenna-gate, and the 3G didn't even get iOS 5. The 's' cycle has always, always, always been the better choice. I'm willing to bet a lot of money that the 7/7s cycle will repeat this.

Sorry if I sound like I'm putting anyone down here. I understand some people had no choice but to buy the 6/6+ (lost/stolen/damaged previous phones) and some liked the bigger sizes. It's just, this time around, Apple really didn't give the 6/6+ a lot of love. I can definitely see that, with the 6s/6s+, Apple really is going all out with all the new features/improvements (2gb of RAM, A9, 3D Touch, a more solid exterior, etc.). If I had gotten myself a 6/6+, I would definitely feel ripped off.

That's my two cents. You're free to disagree.

I think the vast majority of the purchasers of those devices are not spec conscious folks. Most of my family has the 6 and love it, feel no need to upgrade and actually think it was an amazing bump from their 4 and 5s.

I have had practically every iPhone since the original (I think I skipped the 5 and went straight to the 5s) and I thought the 6 was a nice and enjoyable phone. My only issue was that towards the last couple months it would overheat with too many apps open. I still will keep it and use it (even though I went to a 6s+) since I travel enough overseas to want to continue to use it with my foreign SIMs

 

[imaginex20]

I don't know anything about cars, so I can't compare that to cars. Anyway, to answer your question, the reason people demand so much from the company is because it's expensive. When you buy a $700 high-end phone, you expect great performance, and overall a great product, because when you invest that much money into a phone, it's because you want to use it, most likely daily. Most important, when you come from an older device, you expect significant improvement, especially if you just owned a 5S and getting a 6. It's a big disappointment for any person to invest $700 or more on for a new device only to think that the previous one was better.

If the performance isn't up to par then return it. Apple and the carriers have a good return policy. You knew what you were buying so don't expect magic.

 

[rnbwd]

It's ridiculous to assume that apple would intentionally create the A8 in anticipation of A9 - that's not how cpu / gpu works. The rapid growth in manufacturing techniques for these chips is insane. With that being said, I assume most most of their engineering effort was spent on redesigning the iphone - and with limited resources and yearly upgrades - priorities need to be made.

 

[Zune55]

The iPhone 6 and especially the 6+ will have the shortest enjoyable lifespan of any iPhone in recent memory. A bad release and for those of us who got them, a very bad buy.

What are you talking about. 6/6s are the super hot model. No doubt predecessors were excellent but these are not short of excellent too.

 

[Zune55]

Not sure if it's my phone or what, I've had difficulties with constant crashing/rebooting (even when I am just trying to update via App Store) for the past 5 months. I really hope iPhone 6s Plus will solve these issues.

Some 3rd party apps can do crashes install the apps you want one by one or delete them one by one so you will know which one is conflicting.

 

[iapplelove]

Yes, terrible.

Not only do I disagree but am laughing at the post

 

[MrX8503]

I don't know why people expect huge gains at every A chip generation. That's not technologically possible. With every huge jump there will be a generation with a slight slump.

Look at Intel's history of chips.

 

[iapplelove]

What are you talking about. 6/6s are the super hot model. No doubt predecessors were excellent but these are not short of excellent too.

The 6/6 plus last year at this time were x10 harder to get than this years S. My local Apple Store still has some in stock as we speak.

 

[Phone Junky]

So happy to not be a "power user" and find my 6 plus works just find. I couldn't live with the feeling that I was "hosed" by Apple. Next year the A9 will be severely underpowered.

 

[Apple OC]

Still wondering how people are taxing the iP6+

So far, all I am hearing are power web surfers.

 

[Act3]

The last two none S models have had bumps in screen size. I doubt screen size changes next year, probably no change in ram. What will they add? Maybe the 7 will have an even bigger beast of a processor with more cores, base model with 32 gig, major battery improvements, then we will ask again who feels hosed... Lol