I mean, the iPhone design has become a real yawn-fest, but that doesn't mean they should be bordering on stupidity with new design options...like this one.
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iPhone 17 Pro: 12GB RAM Rumor Gets Third Confirmation From Analyst
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12GB RAM would be great for just knowing you spent $1300 on an iPhone and have more RAM than Apple's bottom-line phone (16e, which has 8GB just like the 16 Pro Max does now, which is sad).
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
That's perhaps the most important reason to go 8K for those interested. There are plenty of good reasons. One of the simplest is just that they can (now that that 48 megapixel camera is finally being added). In 2021, that seemed to be the holdup for iPhone doing what Samsung could already do for a year+. Now there will be no execuse except simply wanting to hold this feature back for a future release. They've been spinning how Silicon Macs can edit X streams of 8K video since M1. This would deliver an Apple-based source of 1 such stream.
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It’s really easy for Apple to drop memory intensive features from those models.
And they will still do all the things they are doing today and people have the option of using AI features not run on the device itself anyway via safari and other apps.
So no reason to drop them. There are millions and millions of devices on 4 GB RAM that are quite recent. It would be environmentally and customer loyalty disaster to drop support so soon.
Can someone please explain to me why they would make the camera bump twice the size, with the cameras still staying in the same arrangement they were before?
RAM is powered memory, so more RAM does use more power. But tasks running quicker and not hitting RAM limits saves you power. The net result is you have a more performant phone at a higher cost and the battery is about the same.
Silicon carbide batteries and Apple’s work on their own modems are what is going to eventually improve battery life. Just not sure what gen we are going to to see those gains in.
From now on, I'm calling the rear camera array the Photographic Dynamic Island.
And I think I'm going to love it.
And I think I'm going to love it.
I agree if we are talking about fanboys who buy every single iteration of a mature product as a status toy and are looking for stupid excuse to justify their purchase decisions like this. But it can be a smart choice for other kind of buyers with greater self control.
For instance I have standard 12 since day 1 (4GB RAM) and my wife 12 Pro (6GB RAM) and the difference is night and day in iOS 18. Any heavy app / multitask will lead to multiple apps cleared in the background on my 12. It's substantially harder to face this issue on 12 pro.
RAM has always been the #1 performance bottleneck in iPhone, it has never been the CPU or GPU (except for those who runs specific GPU intensive apps ofc). Given that stupid AI bubble, I am excepting next iterations of iOS to be more taxing on the RAM to perform optimally than requiring latest CPU/GPU. Sure 12GB RAM is pointless for 99% of users right now but if you are a power user or one who really keep his iPhone for 5+ years, it makes a lot of sense.
RAM is why iPhone 6S became the first iphone to support 7 major iOS releases and iPhone 6 only 5 releases.
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I love my iPhone 15 Plus, but I am strongly considering moving to an iPhone 17 Pro Max this Fall. If it has 12GB of DRAM, I’m almost 100% certain I’ll upgrade, otherwise I’ll hang on until the 18 Pro Max as it is virtually guaranteed to have 12GB of DRAM.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
They need more room for camera-related tech... but want "thinner" for Marketing reveal "oooooooooh, ahhhhhhhhh"?
Basically camera (optical) physics wants "thicker." Apple Marketing apparently wants "thinner" (again). There's no way to overcome the laws of (camera) physics... so this conflict leads to product designs like this.
If cameras stay on phones and the rest of the phone can be thinned, eventually you may have a credit-card-thin phone with this huge bulge section on the other end. I increasingly think the camera part probably needs to be ejected (aka subtracted) to add-on case options... OR Apple should embrace making a camera without "thin" target limitations that can also run iDevice apps and double as a phone (using buds for talk)... something like this...
Preserve the "as is" with probably simplified camera(s) in support of "thinner" but make a new line of camera products that double as a phone (as opposed to making a phone that doubles as a camera). Those happy with the "as is" still buy the as is. Those wanting significantly improved camera more than the "same old" phone form factor might embrace carrying around a superior camera that can also cover phone needs as one of many iOS apps on board.
Optical physics cannot be overcome. So if you want a camera as part of a phone, the camera portion needs a certain amount of "thick" to function. Meanwhile, "the rest" has plenty of room to further "thin"- see the rumors about the upcoming iPhone Air to illustrate and/or the thickness of some of the folds from other companies. There is no magical path to resolve this conflict. Better camera wants "thicker". The rest of a phone can go "thinner." Keeping the 2 as one product will only lead to more and more bulge unless we want camera compromises back towards earlier-gen phones (lower resolutions, etc).
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They’ve definitely lost the simplicity and sleekness of the original iPhone vision. Many people would trade simplicity for ‘features’ i know i would
Been saying that for years. +1They need more room for camera-related tech... but want "thinner" for Marketing reveal "oooooooooh, ahhhhhhhhh"?
Basically camera (optical) physics wants "thicker." Apple Marketing apparently wants "thinner" (again). There's no way to overcome the laws of (camera) physics... so this conflict leads to product designs like this.
If cameras stay on phones and the rest of the phone can be thinned, eventually you may have a credit-card-thin phone with this huge bulge section on the other end. I increasingly think the camera part probably needs to be ejected (aka subtracted) to add-on case options... OR Apple should embrace making a camera without "thin" target limitations that can also run iDevice apps and double as a phone (using buds for talk)... something like this...
Preserve the "as is" with probably simplified camera(s) in support of "thinner" but make a new line of camera products that double as a phone (as opposed to making a phone that doubles as a camera). Those happy with the "as is" still buy the as is. Those wanting significantly improved camera more than the "same old" phone form factor might embrace carrying around a superior camera that can also cover phone needs as one of many iOS apps on board.
No Samsung "top-tier" has 16GB RAM, unless you live in Singapore, China or South Korea.
I might be the only one but I actually like the camera bump design, much better than the current offset design imo
I'm using a phone with 4gb of RAM, and it should probably be more in 2025. So lets say that there's 6gb reserved for the system, which is really the absolute minimum at this point. Realistically, for a new phone, I'd want 8gb for regular use.
AI on macOS takes 8gb of RAM, or Apple would have spec-bumped the Macbook to just 12gb.
By my maths, 8+8=16, meaning that this phone is still 4gb shy of what the iPhone should have for local AI use.
Is this one of those cases where Apple has decided 6gb for system use and another 6gb for AI use is good enough for the next half-decade of use, or is this a case where Apple is planning on using a 16gb spec-bump as a way to sell the iPhone 18?
AI on macOS takes 8gb of RAM, or Apple would have spec-bumped the Macbook to just 12gb.
By my maths, 8+8=16, meaning that this phone is still 4gb shy of what the iPhone should have for local AI use.
Is this one of those cases where Apple has decided 6gb for system use and another 6gb for AI use is good enough for the next half-decade of use, or is this a case where Apple is planning on using a 16gb spec-bump as a way to sell the iPhone 18?
I'm sure it has been very well thought out, in the sense that numerous people will have discussed it ad nauseam. The question is, who finally agreed to it and signed it off.
I understand why a camera bump exists directly behind the lenses, but as mentioned, I see no reason for the camera bump to be doubled in size, if the camera arrangement of the lenses themselves stay the same. The bump as stated in the past, is to accommodate for the sensor size and lenses - so essentially camera hardware that is directly behind the lenses. To have the bump extend across the whole phone while not changing the arrangement of the lenses, doesn't make much sense to me.They need more room for camera-related tech... but want "thinner" for Marketing reveal "oooooooooh, ahhhhhhhhh"?
Basically camera (optical) physics wants "thicker." Apple Marketing apparently wants "thinner" (again). There's no way to overcome the laws of (camera) physics... so this conflict leads to product designs like this.
If cameras stay on phones and the rest of the phone can be thinned, eventually you may have a credit-card-thin phone with this huge bulge section on the other end. I increasingly think the camera part probably needs to be ejected (aka subtracted) to add-on case options... OR Apple should embrace making a camera without "thin" target limitations that can also run iDevice apps and double as a phone (using buds for talk)... something like this...
Preserve the "as is" with probably simplified camera(s) in support of "thinner" but make a new line of camera products that double as a phone (as opposed to making a phone that doubles as a camera). Those happy with the "as is" still buy the as is. Those wanting significantly improved camera more than the "same old" phone form factor might embrace carrying around a superior camera that can also cover phone needs as one of many iOS apps on board.
Optical physics cannot be overcome. So if you want a camera as part of a phone, the camera portion needs a certain amount of "thick" to function. Meanwhile, "the rest" has plenty of room to further "thin"- see the rumors about the upcoming iPhone Air to illustrate and/or the thickness of some of the folds from other companies. There is no magical path to resolve this conflict. Better camera wants "thicker". The rest of a phone can go "thinner." Keeping the 2 as one product will only lead to more and more bulge unless we want camera compromises back towards earlier-gen phones (lower resolutions, etc).
Just saying.... All the new "Macs" were recently bumped to a minimum of 16GB of ram memory (not 12GB which could have been an option). With the "close" relationship between the "A" and the "M" chips, one can think that the 16GB of iPhone memory could be necessary two years out. So the 12GB is a teaser to get folks to buy that years model that will be obsolete the following year by 16GB. Oh., and by the way, will it take 16GB to actually run AI for a few years.....?
