Here is why the iPhone 6/6 Plus didn't get more RAM.

[MagicBoy]

Well done! I love proof videos when requested!

I'm intrigued to know how you watched it before writing that, considering it was set to private.

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Reviews I've read have stated 1.5 and 2 days regular usage for the 6 and 6+ respectively.

I'm waiting for Anandtech's reviews.

Given a couple of days ownership it's no worse than the iPhone 4, and I regularly got 1.5-2 days out of that.

Don't believe everything you see posted on in internet forums. Waiting for Anandtech to review is a good idea.

 

[BvizioN]

Wonder why your Android deals with tabbing different with regard to memory mgmt.. mystery.. I was actually very surprised watching your video at what I was seeing.

No idea but would like to know.
I have even downloaded an app called Clean Master and its shows that the memory seem to get used pretty quick with only few tasks.
Here is my Android device ram status after all active apps have been closed.

 

[Xil3]

Android is based on the linux kernel, and linux tends to use up as much memory as it can for cache (which is a good thing). It does this to speed up things as you're using the OS.

That memory can be made free instantly, if needed.

It's normal.

 

[nickchallis92]

OP is ignorant. LOL.

More RAM = More power used. Unlike flash memory, RAM requires a constant supply of power to maintain the contents. Apple fit enough RAM for 99% of the users and everyone benefits with better battery life.

Simples.

OH I SEE, so the iPhone only having 1GB of ram is actually an advantage?

I wish my Note 3 only had 1GB of ram.

 

[BvizioN]

OH I SEE, so the iPhone only having 1GB of ram is actually an advantage?

I wish my Note 3 only had 1GB of ram.

No, it would be totally unusable if it had only 1GB!
With Android it appears 2GB of ram aren't enough!

 

[sunking101]

No, it would be totally unusable if it had only 1GB!
With Android it appears 2GB of ram aren't enough!

1GB isn't enough on the iPhone 5, let alone the i6 ;-)

 

[BvizioN]

1GB isn't enough on the iPhone 5, let alone the i6 ;-)

Please explain why?

 

[cynics]

Please explain why?

Kind of been beat to death at this point hasn't it? Tab reloading, apps getting pushed out of suspended state RAM for foreground processes....

 

[kevink2]

I guess we have our answer then. Apple has optimised iOS to still run smoothly on 1gb of ram so they can save money by not having to include 2gb of ram in their iPhones.

If you want to give Apple the benefit of the doubt, it might be to retain an incentive for app developers to limit memory requirements of their apps. By not increasing the RAM so fast, older iPhones aren't obsoleted due to memory usage as fast.

The 128MB in the 2 and 3G made these phones obsolete pretty fast. The 256GB in the iPad 1 too was on the low side. Make that 256MB. Since then, it seems that the main limitation has been GPU and CPU performance.

 

[BvizioN]

Kind of been beat to death at this point hasn't it? Tab reloading, apps getting pushed out of suspended state RAM for foreground processes....

But as I have proved on the video before, it happens on 2GB of ram devices too, with barely 5 tabs open and zero apps active!!

 

[sunking101]

If you want to give Apple the benefit of the doubt, it might be to retain an incentive for app developers to limit memory requirements of their apps. By not increasing the RAM so fast, older iPhones aren't obsoleted due to memory usage as fast.

The 128MB in the 2 and 3G made these phones obsolete pretty fast. The 256GB in the iPad 1 too was on the low side. Make that 256MB. Since then, it seems that the main limitation has been GPU and CPU performance.

Older phones are swiftly rendered obsolete by Apple themselves through software updates, so I hardly think that limiting the RAM of new models is done as a favour to owners of older iPhones ;-)

 

[terraphantm]

OP is ignorant. LOL.

More RAM = More power used. Unlike flash memory, RAM requires a constant supply of power to maintain the contents. Apple fit enough RAM for 99% of the users and everyone benefits with better battery life.

Simples.

I'd argue that the extra radio and cpu use when refreshing tabs uses more power than extra ram would. Apple would most likely use a more dense IC rather than adding second "module", so I'd bet power usage would barely be more

 

[Q-Dog]

There are a hell of a lot of apologists here.
1GB of RAM on a late 2014 premium smartphone is PATHETIC, whether it reloads tabs or not. The fact that we've been experiencing tab reloads for *years* and that the problem has become MUCH worse since iOS7 seems to point to software becoming too powerful for the hardware. Now all these apologists bring out the techno diatribe as to why 1GB of RAM is perfect, but it obviously isn't. My Android tablet with 1.5GB of RAM doesn't reload tabs. Current premium Android smartphones have 3GB of RAM and they have the best battery life of any smartphone out there, slaying the i6 battery life comfortably. So if RAM drains batteries so much to make adding more unfeasible, how do Samsung et al manage to not only stay in the same ballpark as Apple when it comes to battery life, but to actually come out victorious?

So, Apple must use more RAM because all other makers do it?

 

[ANTAWNM26]

Ram can tend to be an very ignorant discussion here on Macrumors. Lets clear it up a bit.

Compared to iPhone's competitors (android, google), Apple differentiates themselves by having full control over our own Chip -- The A8. Apple meticulously creates this chip to provide fine tuned synergy with iOS. THAT's why we don't need the massive specs, or the extra ram. All functionality of your iPhone is satisfied with the current hardware due to Apple being able to tailor the chip to OS's needs.

Take for instance android phones. Most of them use Qualcomm chips. Qualcomm is a chip manufacturer. Android Phone companies basically have to buy this chip, and then create their mobile OS around it (Which is the opposite way of how Apple does it). This can create bottlenecks in their Android OS, and doesn't let them get the most out of their hardware. They have to put MORE hardware specs in just to match the polished experience that iOS provides.

Let's do a little test. Lets look at the A7 -- the last iteration chip(iPhone 5/5s). Lets compare it to the Nexus 4 which had the snapdragon s4 pro.

So the iPhone 5's A7 chip ( Dual core, 1300 MHz, with 1gb ram) vs Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro ( Quad core, 1500 MHz, with 2gb ram) -BIGGER SPECS AND MORE RAM

Here are the benchmark comparisons. The A7 was better in benchmarks.
Image

Also, you can google this yourself. But compare the A7 to the chip in the Galaxy S5 and the benchmarks are pretty much on par with each other. Which is pretty awesome for the iPhone. Anyway, I hope this clears up why we don't need the extra ram.

So the next time an androider says "WE HAVE 2GB RAM!! HER DER" you just say, "yea you guys need it more than we do. " --then moonwalk away from them while maintaining strict eye contact.

TL;DR We tailor our own chip - we don't need the extra ram.

Through all that copying and pasting you still missed the boat...Oh, please just leave android out of it that **** is old and lame now....but like i said you missed the boat bad, the plus needed more ram period...ram/processor works as a tandem,damn the bench score...what about the issues with safari address that with your bench scores...it will fall back to ram/processor

 

[sunking101]

So, Apple must use more RAM because all other makers do it?

No, because the iPhone needs it.

 

[BvizioN]

No, because the iPhone needs it.

No, users want it.

 

[sunking101]

No, users want it.

Same thing really.

 

[BvizioN]

Same thing really.

Actually there is difference between want and need but anyway.....

 

[spaceballl]

What a useless thread. I thought I would click over and see some interesting analysis. Instead, I saw a CPU benchmark claiming to explain memory differences.

 

[oplix]

Uh S4 Pro shouldn't be compared to A7 they are not relevant. If you want to compare A7 you can compare it to snapdragon 800.

 

[sunking101]

Actually there is difference between want and need but anyway.....

Users want it because the iPhone needs it

 

[ZBoater]

Here is why the iPhone 6/6 Plus didn't get more RAM.

My iPhone 2G is not obsolete. It still works. I can still talk to people on it.

 

[beosound3200]

Users want it because the iPhone needs it

actually it doesnt

 

[saintforlife]

Ram can tend to be an very ignorant discussion here on Macrumors. Lets clear it up a bit.

Compared to iPhone's competitors (android, google), Apple differentiates themselves by having full control over our own Chip -- The A8. Apple meticulously creates this chip to provide fine tuned synergy with iOS. THAT's why we don't need the massive specs, or the extra ram. All functionality of your iPhone is satisfied with the current hardware due to Apple being able to tailor the chip to OS's needs.

Take for instance android phones. Most of them use Qualcomm chips. Qualcomm is a chip manufacturer. Android Phone companies basically have to buy this chip, and then create their mobile OS around it (Which is the opposite way of how Apple does it). This can create bottlenecks in their Android OS, and doesn't let them get the most out of their hardware. They have to put MORE hardware specs in just to match the polished experience that iOS provides.

Let's do a little test. Lets look at the A7 -- the last iteration chip(iPhone 5/5s). Lets compare it to the Nexus 4 which had the snapdragon s4 pro.

So the iPhone 5's A7 chip ( Dual core, 1300 MHz, with 1gb ram) vs Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro ( Quad core, 1500 MHz, with 2gb ram) -BIGGER SPECS AND MORE RAM

Here are the benchmark comparisons. The A7 was better in benchmarks.
Image

Also, you can google this yourself. But compare the A7 to the chip in the Galaxy S5 and the benchmarks are pretty much on par with each other. Which is pretty awesome for the iPhone. Anyway, I hope this clears up why we don't need the extra ram.

So the next time an androider says "WE HAVE 2GB RAM!! HER DER" you just say, "yea you guys need it more than we do. " --then moonwalk away from them while maintaining strict eye contact.

TL;DR We tailor our own chip - we don't need the extra ram.

So why do the Safari tabs keep reloading on my iPad Air and iPhone 6 even when I only have 2-3 open without too many apps 'paused' in the background? This is an iOS memory management issue. Not sure why you are comparing it to Android.

The amount of RAM in an Android phone has no bearing on the less than optimal experience on my iOS devices.

 

[horsebattery]

What I really don't understand is that most websites are < 5MB. Many mobile optimized pages are only 250-500KB. So why do they get purged from memory so quickly? Reading that back from cache should only take half a second.

That is because a page's assets are not the only resources that consume memory. In Safari, each tab is its own separate process (similar to Chrome). Here is a screenshot of a number of tabs I have open in Safari on an iPhone 6. The associated process id's corresponds to these sites:

1375-macrumors
1377-cnn
1379-theverge
1381-newtab
1382-newtab
1383-theverge
651-(guessing here) default engine that is loaded at process start

At the time that the screenshot was taken, the active tab was macrumors (previous screenshot was the verge). In all cases except macrumors and the new tabs, the sites were on their respective (mobile) home pages. For macrumors, I was on the iPhone index forum.

Edit: Sorry, the labels were cut off. Reuploaded - note that the active tab is now macrumors instead. I've also uploaded the previous screenshot where The Verge was the active tab.