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iPhone 5 in 2015

Beeplance

Beeplance

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 29, 2012
1,564
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As we all know, the iPhone 5 was released in fall 2012, and it will be running into its 3rd year of service very soon. Although discontinued, I still see tons of folks using the 5 daily.

What do you guys think about this model 3 years down the road? In a few months time, it will getting iOS 9, its 3rd major update since debuting with iOS 6, and from all the videos about iOS 9 betas' speed on the 5 so far, I still think it is performing very decently even up till now. Maybe that can be attributed to the fact that it is the first iPhone to be fitted with 1GB of RAM, together with the second generation dual-core A6 chip. I feel that even its ageing 8MP camera still takes great photos, as long as it is not in low light scenarios.

I can still remember back then, people were saying the 5 is basically just a taller iPhone 4S, but they were wrong. The September 2012 keynote showed that Apple improved basically every single aspect/component from the 4S. The screen, the camera, the microphones, the sensors, made the phone crazy light (when I first felt it, it felt as though there was nothing inside), better battery life, new chip to spice up performance as always but now with double the RAM.

Just want to hear some thoughts from folks who are still using their iPhone 5. How has it held up over the years, and do you think it is still a great phone 3 years after launch?
 
I only have an iPhone 5 and see absolutely 0 reason for an upgrade. It is quick, responsive and does not feel like an almost 3 year old phone.

Just last Xmas I purchased an ipad air 2 and that has taken a massive amount of usage away from my iPhone 5, so you need to take that into consideration I guess.

But even without the iPad I wouldn't not be considering upgrading my phone at all.
 
I too have been using my "good old" 5 since it came and I am very satisfied. I really don't see any need for an 6 or 6+.
As long as I can update it on iTunes, I'm gonna keep it :)
 
It still seems like a fairly capable device, especially since iOS 9 is designed to support device even older than the 5. It wasn't just the new internals that helped it get lighter, but the switch from a glass front and back to aluminum. Glass is a heavy material compared to aluminum, especially with the required thicknesses needed to keep durability high.
 
I agree, I see more people using the iPhone 5 than just about any other device around.
 
I'm still using my iPhone 5 as of today and it is serving me well. Really smooth experience. Now with iOS 8.4 and jailbreak I must say I'm very happy with my iPhone 5.

Might wait for iPhone 7. Since iOS 9 runs well on iPhone 5.
 
Have my 5 since July 2013. Still runs, although there's a scratch in the screen and the battery derps out from time to time. I'll be looking forward to what Apple has in store with the 6S, might be going with that one.
 
I got my iPhone 5 on launch day and used it as my primary phone up until about two months ago. It's the last phone that used Black/Slate. Everything now is Black/Space Gray. I still love the monolith from 2001 look and my phone is still doing great.

I do have the 6+ now but I hate the Space Gray, the antenna bands and the jutting camera. If I could get a 6+ that looked like the 5 I'd be happy.

Ah well.
 
Mine was replaced by Apple when just a year old, with a refurb I suppose, and so the battery is only 18 months old but has now failed. Not impressed as the phone is not heavily used, it is mostly just a phone, I'm hardly ever without an iPad.

The phone itself is great, I like the size, style, and I probably won't replace it until it dies.
 
Zaft said:
I would of kept my 5, but the iPhone 6 has band 41 for Sprint so I had to have that.
Click to expand...
I have the 6+ on Sprint and my wife has the 6 on Sprint. We have Band 41 as well now.

Both of us still have our iPhone 5's. Mine is sitting connected to my PowerMac G4.
 
I handed my 5 to my wife when I upgraded to the 6. She loves it and will not go for an upgrade. I look after it for her in regards to upgrades and such. It is a very responsive phone still to this day. I can not see her getting rid of it anytime soon. One of the best iPhone's by Apple.
 
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The 5 might appear to still hold up due to the 1GB of RAM and the A6 processor, but as things continue migrating from 32 to 64 bit, it will begin to show its age. I'm sure that iOS 9 seems to run well on it, although I am not sure which (if any) features will be held back from the 5. Obviously, hardware-related features (i.e. that involve touch id) will not be implemented, but outside of such features I'm not sure if any will be held back. If i had to guess, I would speculate that next year's iOS 10 may be the final update for the 5. Only thing keeping me from thinking that iOS 9 will be the last one is the fact that it still supports the A5 devices. Surely, iOS 10 won't continue supporting A5 devices that will be 5 years old come 2016, but I also don't think that Apple would eliminate support from 2 generations worth of devices (4S/5) at once.

The 5S, on the other hand, I think, is/was Apple's most "future proof" phone. It's going to be 2 years old come September and it easily hangs with the 6/6+ lineup. I remember when it was introduced and although it had similar design to the 5, it was an almost entirely new device inside. Performance-wise, the 5S is right there alongside the 6 models. Touch ID, 64 bit A7, M7, 1 GB RAM, etc. If i had to guess, I would say the 5S - which launched with iOS 7 - will probably be supported through iOS 10 or maybe even iOS 11.

That said, since I'm on the S-cycle, I'm looking forward to upgrading to a 6S+ in (hopefully) about 2 months from now.
 
And people wonder why we want the iPhone 6S to have 2GB of RAM. With 1GB almost not cutting it as it is today, can you imagine if the iPhone 5 only had 512MB of RAM? The RAM is likely the reason it has held out so well, as processors these days are more than capable of handling anything you throw at it.
 
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I still have my 5 that I got in January 2013! At 2 1/2 years old it's still holding up pretty well. Battery life goes almost all day (8.4 took a bit of a hit, but that could be background stuff since the update), and performance is still good. I've also kept it in pretty good condition with no cracks and just a few minor scratches. I could hold out for the 6s or even the 7.
 
My only gripe with the 5 is the screen size and the battery life in comparison with smartphones these days.. Other than that, it's my daily driver which I swap occasionally between a galaxy note 3
 
I needed an upgrade BADLY in 2014 with my iPhone 5. I can only imagine how bad it would be if I still had it till now.

I was literally charging it 4 times a day and I can't explain how much better the camera on the 6+ is compared to the 5.
 
My iPhone 5 is still performing fairly well. However, the battery needs charging a lot and the camera compared to newer smartphones is lacking of course. One thing that is still great is there is no lag--which is more than I can say for the 6/6+. My contract expired a year ago and I had no desire to get an iPhone that performed worse than my old one. If the RAM gets upgraded to at least 2GB I'm in on the 6s.
 
TWD98j said:
The 5 might appear to still hold up due to the 1GB of RAM and the A6 processor, but as things continue migrating from 32 to 64 bit, it will begin to show its age. I'm sure that iOS 9 seems to run well on it, although I am not sure which (if any) features will be held back from the 5. Obviously, hardware-related features (i.e. that involve touch id) will not be implemented, but outside of such features I'm not sure if any will be held back. If i had to guess, I would speculate that next year's iOS 10 may be the final update for the 5. Only thing keeping me from thinking that iOS 9 will be the last one is the fact that it still supports the A5 devices. Surely, iOS 10 won't continue supporting A5 devices that will be 5 years old come 2016, but I also don't think that Apple would eliminate support from 2 generations worth of devices (4S/5) at once.

The 5S, on the other hand, I think, is/was Apple's most "future proof" phone. It's going to be 2 years old come September and it easily hangs with the 6/6+ lineup. I remember when it was introduced and although it had similar design to the 5, it was an almost entirely new device inside. Performance-wise, the 5S is right there alongside the 6 models. Touch ID, 64 bit A7, M7, 1 GB RAM, etc. If i had to guess, I would say the 5S - which launched with iOS 7 - will probably be supported through iOS 10 or maybe even iOS 11.

That said, since I'm on the S-cycle, I'm looking forward to upgrading to a 6S+ in (hopefully) about 2 months from now.
Click to expand...

I consider the iPhone 5 to have had the best longevity from launch date of any iPhone since. Of course the 6S should end its run but what a run it will have been! Plenty fast enough and being 32Bit it has more available RAM than the 5S/6/6+. If you can do without Touch ID and Apple Pay (who can't?) it is the pick of the bunch if you like apps and browser tabs to stay in memory.
 
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I just had my iPhone 5 battery replaced 1 month ago, on its 55th cycle count currently.

I turned on reduce transparency and installed bloard, nograycontrast and made the folder view transparent to eliminate the awful visual effects present when you turn on reduce transparency.

It is so smooth right now, zero lag. Animations set at 0.5x. Jailbreak is the best.
 
Been happily using my 5 since Fall of 2012. Great phone. And the black & slate is my favorite color combination yet. Had my battery replaced for free by Apple recently and it's running great. Clearly a bit slower and without all the newer features but works for me. Will probably update to the 6S depending on how it looks, but would be fine going another year with the 5 as long as iOS9 works well on it (which it should).
 
geoff5093 said:
And people wonder why we want the iPhone 6S to have 2GB of RAM. With 1GB almost not cutting it as it is today, can you imagine if the iPhone 5 only had 512MB of RAM? The RAM is likely the reason it has held out so well, as processors these days are more than capable of handling anything you throw at it.
Click to expand...

Can you imagine if the 6S only had 256MB RAM?
 
sunking101 said:
I consider the iPhone 5 to have had the best longevity from launch date of any iPhone since. Of course the 6S should end its run but what a run it will have been! Plenty fast enough and being 32Bit it has more available RAM than the 5S/6/6+. If you can do without Touch ID and Apple Pay (who can't?) it is the pick of the bunch if you like apps and browser tabs to stay in memory.
Click to expand...
I think so too. It's because it's the only iPhone to have the same amount of RAM as the next two and the only iPhone to have tripled its CPU power from the previous generation (based on Geekbench scores).
 
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