iPad Pro Does iPadOS 26 use more RAM than 18? Here are my test results.

[Digitalguy]

I have been comparing an M1 on 26 and an M2 on 18.5 (both with 8GB RAM) in terms of reloads of apps and tabs to see if 26 uses more RAM with exactly the same usage (I have been doing exactly the same things on both from power on).
I have been testing since I have been noticing more reloads on 18 compared to 17 but I never did the test before updating to 18 to check whether it's an impression or reality.
Now my test seem to show that if anything 18 reloads more than 26, so at best they are the same, or 26 is even an improvement....
It's a beta, so I'll probably repeat the test once the real thing drops, but 26 seems pretty good...

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

I wouldn't waste your time. You're not only comparing different processors with unified memory but how ram works in general meaning you would never notice without proper tools for testing and an OS/app that utilizes all available ram. Cool you tried but I would go do something else with my time ha.

 

[Digitalguy]

I wouldn't waste your time. You're not only comparing different processors with unified memory but how ram works in general meaning you would never notice without proper tools for testing and an OS/app that utilizes all available ram. Cool you tried but I would go do something else with my time ha.

Those tools do not exist on iPadOS, which is much more restrictive than desktop OSs, so any comparison will never be scientific, but it's still better than nothing, and I have done it in the past, and when RAM was different (e.g. 2018 pro 4GB vs 6GB) the difference in reloads was massive. Honestly I don't think M1 vs M2 makes any difference in how RAM is used. In my experience reloads with 8GB were very rare until iPadOS 17, but again I did no test between 17 and 18 so at least I am trying now. I also have 2 identical iPads, an M1 2TB 12.9 and a M1 2TB 11, one on 26 and one on 15. That would be an even more interesting comparison, but it's so hard to cause reloads on 16GB RAM that I consider that not even worth my time....

 

[russell_314]

I also have 2 identical iPads, an M1 2TB 12.9 and a M1 2TB 11, one on 26 and one on 15.

I would go do something else with my time ha.

It looks like this is his hobby. I don’t mind doing tests on desktop OS but it would drive me crazy doing it on an iPad due to how the OS is setup. I wouldn’t have the patience

 

[Digitalguy]

It looks like this is his hobby. I don’t mind doing tests on desktop OS but it would drive me crazy doing it on an iPad due to how the OS is setup. I wouldn’t have the patience

I do tests on both desktop and mobile OS, but indeed on iPad it's much more "empirical", I do this every couple of years, not what would I call a hobby. I generally do it when I am annoyed by reloads. I did it when 4GB iPad pro started annoying me and I sold it. Now I did because 8GB iPads are starting to reload more than I would like, although it's still not at a level where I considered it too annoying. But 16GB do a much better job.... And iOS and iPadOS have continually increase the amount of RAM they take for both the OS and apps and the additional multitasking capabilities also add to that (I, and probably others, do more things on iPad than in the past)

 

[russell_314]

I do tests on both desktop and mobile OS, but indeed on iPad it's much more "empirical", I do this every couple of years, not what would I call a hobby. I generally do it when I am annoyed by reloads. I did it when 4GB iPad pro started annoying me and I sold it. Now I did because 8GB iPads are starting to reload more than I would like, although it's still not at a level where I considered it too annoying. But 16GB do a much better job.... And iOS and iPadOS have continually increase the amount of RAM they take for both the OS and apps and the additional multitasking capabilities also add to that (I, and probably others, do more things on iPad than in the past)

I find it interesting, but I just don’t have the patience. I was thinking since you had so many iPads, that was your hobby. Or at least one of your hobbies. I’m still using my old 4th gen iPad Air. I don’t even know how much RAM it has, but I suspect not much. I don’t do anything taxing on it. Right now I have iPadOS 26 beta on it. I don’t normally mess around with a beta OS but it’s just for watching YouTube. As long as it can maintain a browser window open, it’s fine.

 

[Isamilis]

Those tools do not exist on iPadOS, which is much more restrictive than desktop OSs, so any comparison will never be scientific, but it's still better than nothing, and I have done it in the past, and when RAM was different (e.g. 2018 pro 4GB vs 6GB) the difference in reloads was massive. Honestly I don't think M1 vs M2 makes any difference in how RAM is used. In my experience reloads with 8GB were very rare until iPadOS 17, but again I did no test between 17 and 18 so at least I am trying now. I also have 2 identical iPads, an M1 2TB 12.9 and a M1 2TB 11, one on 26 and one on 15. That would be an even more interesting comparison, but it's so hard to cause reloads on 16GB RAM that I consider that not even worth my time....

It’s very interesting. Would you give update when iPadOS 26 final released? My hypothesis (and probably many others) is iPadOS 26 will require more cpu and ram than 18 - especially with their “improvements” in UI and window management.

 

[Digitalguy]

It’s very interesting. Would you give update when iPadOS 26 final released? My hypothesis (and probably many others) is iPadOS 26 will require more cpu and ram than 18 - especially with their “improvements” in UI and window management.

I will. And even if I sell the 12.9 M1 8GB in the meantime (it's up for sale already for little less than $600) I still have the M4 8GB on 18 so I could update the M2 to 26 and compare those.
You hypothesis was the same as mine, but so far it has been proven wrong. Just now I went on both and opened Brave where I had 2 youtube videos open on 2 tabs and they reloaded again on the M2 and not on the M1 (I also have 4 tabs open in Safari on both). So for now iPadOS 26 beta 5 is doing better than 18. I may add the M4 to the mix (also on 18) to check if it's consistent.
One thing I'll be doing is also leaving them unused for a while (hours or even a day) to see what happens, if anything reloads. I may even add the 16GB M1 to the mix but then I would run out of 13" iPads to use....

 

[Slartibart]

The described “testing” seems quite subjective (adblocker, version infos, etc.). Of course you can get more detailed insight, e.g., this is the memory allocation of my test 3rd gen 11” iPP under iPadOS 26 b5 after 7 days uptime:

and here with Safari running with 10 tabs open (6 github pages, 1 medium page, daring fireball, bbc, this page) and using the free tier of Adguard:

but that is somewhat meaningless, due to how modern OS handle memory - as others already pointed out.

My completely subjective impression for what’s worth is that any change in Safari’s reload behaviour is minuscule - if you visit something like /r/NatureIs****ingLit/ and scroll down, Safari will stop loading previews/autoplaying videos/reload quite similar on iPadOS26 b5 compared to 18.6 on the same hardware.
The interaction with the iPP feels snappier so on b5. YMMV. 🤓