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Ahmed7

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 10, 2017
37
52
Bahrain
Does anyone else notice bad RAM management on their iPhone X? Apps reload much more often than my 6s which had 1GB less RAM. I’ve watched comparison videos on YouTube and some Android phones are doing a better job than iPhone which is a shame since iPhone used to destroy Androids in this area with much less RAM.

Its probably from iOS 11 so anyone on 11.2 beta feel this is improved?
 

appleguy123

macrumors 604
Apr 1, 2009
6,867
2,554
15 minutes in the future
I've never had to reload apps more in iOS than on 11.2 on my iPhone X. Hope it's a bug that gets fixed soon. For example if I check my mail, then load a few pages on MacRumors, then go back to mail, it already needs to be reloaded.
 

xeio

macrumors regular
Sep 16, 2016
113
85
yes. ram management is bad right now. hopefully we see a fix/improvement in future. maybe with 11.3
 
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ke-iron

macrumors 68000
Aug 14, 2014
1,558
1,037
I don’t think it’s the RAM management that is the issue. I think the phone needs more RAM period. My apps are constantly reloading over and over again because there just isn’t enough RAM to go around. If next years iPhone doesn’t have 4-5 gigs of RAM I’m going to have to pass on purchaseing it. There are times I have important things on the screen and I switch between 1 app and back and the crap reloaded, wtf.
 

Vermifuge

macrumors 68020
Mar 7, 2009
2,067
1,589
I don’t think it’s the RAM management that is the issue. I think the phone needs more RAM period. My apps are constantly reloading over and over again because there just isn’t enough RAM to go around. If next years iPhone doesn’t have 4-5 gigs of RAM I’m going to have to pass on purchaseing it. There are times I have important things on the screen and I switch between 1 app and back and the crap reloaded, wtf.

Apple tightly monitors cost to benefit. A plus / delta if you will. More ram means more battery usage and added. It could also mean less compatibility over time. The question is how much is that trade off worth? I suspect the ram will remain the same next year.
 

ke-iron

macrumors 68000
Aug 14, 2014
1,558
1,037
Apple tightly monitors cost to benefit. A plus / delta if you will. More ram means more battery usage and added. It could also mean less compatibility over time. The question is how much is that trade off worth? I suspect the ram will remain the same next year.

Currently Apple advises us against force closing apps because it has a huge negative impact on battery life when relaunching. But what choice do I have if when I’m switching between a few apps are reloading? I have to close everything outside of 4 apps. RAM can’t remain the same, I can barely multitask effectively between a handful of apps the way things are right now. It’s the only complaint I have about my iPhone X. Not enough RAM.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,303
25,624
Currently Apple advises us against force closing apps because it has a huge negative impact on battery life when relaunching. But what choice do I have if when I’m switching between a few apps are reloading? I have to close everything outside of 4 apps. RAM can’t remain the same, I can barely multitask effectively between a handful of apps the way things are right now. It’s the only complaint I have about my iPhone X. Not enough RAM.

It’s almost guaranteed to get a bump in RAM next year. They never go more than two cycles without a memory increase. It’s been 3GB since the 7.

Apple uses feature rationing to encourage consumers to upgrade. If they loaded the phone with 4GB today, it could mean a slump in sales next year.
 

44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,494
Apple tightly monitors cost to benefit. A plus / delta if you will. More ram means more battery usage and added. It could also mean less compatibility over time. The question is how much is that trade off worth? I suspect the ram will remain the same next year.

Completely disagree. By your flawed logic, That would also mean Apple would retain 3 GB of RAM for four generations of iPhones with the 7 Plus, 8 Plus, X and the 2018 X, which is an unlikely scenario . I would also suggest that you review Apples timeline of iPhone cycles with a storage/Ram increases. In the least, the larger 6.5 OLED iPhone will see 4 GB of RAM if the lower 5.8 retains 3 GB of RAM. If that holds true, Apple will use the 4 GB of RAM as an upgradable feature for the larger and more expensive 6.5 iPhone. Its creating a separation to create diversity between the iPhone models.
 
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Technarchy

macrumors 604
May 21, 2012
6,753
4,927
The X should have shipped with 4GB of RAM considering the amount of the pixels the device now has to push.

Right now I think the issue is iOS 11 and poorly optimized apps.

However I can this being a real issue if the X+ ships with 3GB.

And Apple usually doesn’t add more RAM unless the device is completely crippled. We all remember the experience disaster the 6+ was. It was the first laggy iPhone I ever experienced and it damn near reloaded 100% of apps.
 
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rawCpoppa

macrumors 6502a
Feb 23, 2010
646
707
Came from a 5S to an X and I noticed app reloading as well. Not anywhere near as bad as on the 5S but I’m surprised it happened at all on the X. Not even intensive apps at that on the X. Facebook, tapatalk, Facebook messenger and WhatsApp that’s it. If it’s like this already what happens by the time we get iOS 12-13?
 

Vermifuge

macrumors 68020
Mar 7, 2009
2,067
1,589
The X should have shipped with 4GB of RAM considering the amount of the pixels the device now has to push.

Right now I think the issue is iOS 11 and poorly optimized apps.

However I can this being a real issue if the X+ ships with 3GB.

And Apple usually doesn’t add more RAM unless the device is completely crippled. We all remember the experience disaster the 6+ was. It was the first laggy iPhone I ever experienced and it damn near reloaded 100% of apps.

And considering the non plus still ships with 2 GB I don't see 3 being a necessity (to Apple)
 

chunden13

macrumors newbie
Nov 12, 2017
18
4
i remember i once read an article suggesting to us that we need not to close all the apps that is sleeping at the background as it does nt help battery savings.

Hence, i left all my apps sleeping behind without bothering to close all of them. However, my whatsapp, facebook, basically all apps are reloading frequently, like 5-10 minutes later after i switched to other applications. This is terrible.
 

Stuart6

Suspended
Jan 30, 2017
81
48
Previous iphones like 6s and 7 had great RAM management even with 2GB ram. It could be IOS getting more heavier. There are numerous software updates, and the RAM management was still an issue for IOS 11, so it may mot be an optimization thing, but IOS needing more RAM. Hopefully next year we see 4GB RAM and more.
 

kasakka

macrumors 68020
Oct 25, 2008
2,367
1,060
Apple tightly monitors cost to benefit. A plus / delta if you will. More ram means more battery usage and added. It could also mean less compatibility over time. The question is how much is that trade off worth? I suspect the ram will remain the same next year.

Apple tightly monitors their profits and nickle and dimes the specs on their devices accordingly. Even on Android phones that have excessive amounts of RAM (the opposite problem where manufacturers cram in too much just to look good on paper) there is no huge battery drain associated. I would not be surprised if they put in 4 GB next year.

That said, it's not like 3GB is super low. It should not cause severe app reloading. Do users on older models with 2 GB RAM experience the same with iOS 11?
 

HarryWild

macrumors 68020
Oct 27, 2012
2,049
720
Apple has alway be very frugal as far as RAM goes! Even the $300 Andriods smartphone come with 4GB RAM inside. Top of line Andriod have 6GB RAM or more. The X has 3GB only. I think Apple keeps the RAM limit small so users will be force to upgrade every three to four years. No reason for Apple to be so frugal since RAM price are so cheap now a days.
 
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