Expert opinions needed: What does the future of iPhone entail now that it's 64-bit?

[user-name-here]

Looking for expert opinions who have the vision to see where Apple is taking the iPhone now that it is 64-bit.

Any ideas to what the future will hold?

What abilities will be unlocked by going 64-bit?

Why would Apple do such a thing?

Thanks in advance for your knowledge

 

[drb1992]

I'm no expert, but Anandtech's review of the 5S hits on the 64bit CPU. http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review/4

 

[Radiating]

Looking for expert opinions who have the vision to see where Apple is taking the iPhone now that it is 64-bit.

Any ideas to what the future will hold?

What abilities will be unlocked by going 64-bit?

Why would Apple do such a thing?

Thanks in advance for your knowledge

There is no real reason why 64 bit is extremely necessary or extremely beneficial. 64 bit is something that needs to happen between 3-4GB of ram as you can't support that much ram without it, yet smartphones are at 1GB currently.


64-bit processing might improve battery life and speed a little bit by accident but really this is an afterthought and few processor designers about improving things by accident. Most tech people responded by saying "WTF?" when Apple announced a 64 bit phone as it has little or no direct benefit.

That's like announcing a car that runs on gas AND moon rocks. It doesn't actually do anything currently, so the only theory behind it would be that there is some side benefit they are exploiting, (or the cynical would say that they are using it for pure marketing but Apple doesn't add useless features for marketing).

My theory is that it has to do with the motion processor. GPS data is 64 bit and if you want to run it on a 32 bit processor then there is a penalty to battery life.

So 64 bit processing makes your GPS data more efficient while preparing your ecosystem for more ram in ummm 4 years?

 

[paulbennett95]

There is no real reason why 64 bit is extremely necessary or extremely beneficial. 64 bit is something that needs to happen between 3-4GB of ram as you can't support that much ram without it, yet smartphones are at 1GB currently.


64-bit processing might improve battery life and speed a little bit but really this is an afterthought. Most tech people responded by saying "WTF?" when Apple announced a 64 bit phone.

That's like announcing a car that runs on gas AND moon rocks. It doesn't actually do anything currently, so the only theory behind it would be that there is some side benefit they are exploiting.

My theory is that it has to do with the motion processor. GPS data is 64 bit and if you want to run it on a 32 bit processor then there is a penalty to battery life.

So 64 bit processing makes your GPS data more efficient while preparing your ecosystem for more ram in ummm 4 years?

And if they didn't make the 5S 64-bit and waited until the 6, people would be saying Apple is playing catch-up, is copying Android, and isn't innovative.

Why is everyone so PO'd that Apple made the processor 64-bit? Is there any real drawbacks? It seems people would've preferred it stay 32-bit.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't..

 

[toxic]

as mentioned, Anandtech goes into this a bit. basically:
- modest performance jump from new instruction set and more registers
- by the time new iOS devices hit 4+GB in 2015-16, all shipping products will be 64-bit compatible

Apple has always prepared for back-end overhauls well in advance, like PowerPC to Intel, 32- to 64-bit in OS X, and Retina support.

 

[Radiating]

And if they didn't make the 5S 64-bit and waited until the 6, people would be saying Apple is playing catch-up, is copying Android, and isn't innovative.

Why is everyone so PO'd that Apple made the processor 64-bit? Is there any real drawbacks? It seems people would've preferred it stay 32-bit.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't..

64 bit processors need to pad each ram address with more information meaning that there is less ram to use, it's a drawback, especially considering that according to Apple's own diagnostic data their phones are short on RAM.

The jump would have been great if they also added 2GB of ram but in the end the change has some benefits and some drawbacks.

The biggest gain is in being able to run the latest ARM instruction set which has performance gains if used.

 

[Mrbobb]

Why would Apple do such a thing?

Is an evolutionary change, just like desktops which went through the same thing.

It won't make world peace, nor eliminate hunger. Short term benefit: better gaming as they shown on keynote.

 

[ABC5S]

Expert Opinion ?

Here on MacRumor ?

Got to be kidding, right ?

 

[user-name-here]

Expert Opinion ?

Here on MacRumor ?

Got to be kidding, right ?

Not at all really, if you are active enough on the forums you will spot the members who are Engineers and IT managers that know what they are talking about.

Macrumors member chrmjenkins is one such example. Here is his detailed analysis of the A7 that is on the level of Anandtech style analysis : https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1634100/