Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Official iPhone 6 Plus Reviews Report 1 GB RAM
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Why do all the apologists think that an extra 1GB of RAM would hinder battery life?
Phones use ultra low power RAM.
In contrast, the MacBooks all just got a base model RAM doubled. That's 8GB to 16GB so that's orders of magnitude more RAM than in a phone and not ultra low power. Battery life did not move.
I really do not understand how anyone could complain about more of something. And it's not related to raw performance, it's about capability. Like having more apps in memory, or internet pages etc.
Also, people slagging off android because of their experience with a galaxy. Please, remind yourself that that is due to Samsung super bloating android. Go to cyanogenmods website and go through the motions of wiping the phone and installing a near stock android operating system. It's very easy, literally under 5 mins and all galaxy's are supported. Your performance will go through the roof.
Phones use ultra low power RAM.
In contrast, the MacBooks all just got a base model RAM doubled. That's 8GB to 16GB so that's orders of magnitude more RAM than in a phone and not ultra low power. Battery life did not move.
I really do not understand how anyone could complain about more of something. And it's not related to raw performance, it's about capability. Like having more apps in memory, or internet pages etc.
Also, people slagging off android because of their experience with a galaxy. Please, remind yourself that that is due to Samsung super bloating android. Go to cyanogenmods website and go through the motions of wiping the phone and installing a near stock android operating system. It's very easy, literally under 5 mins and all galaxy's are supported. Your performance will go through the roof.
Last edited:
I get that there's some issue with Safari tabs refreshing when multitasking. And that's an issue, when the browser loses state and all your form fields are lost, or some AJAX web application loses it's state.
What I don't get, is this insistence that having 2 GB of RAM is the solution. Clearly, fixing Safari state saving and restoration is the solution.
Sounds like the issue became noticeable after Apple changed some memory freeing algorithm in iOS 7 to be more aggressive, maybe so they could power down banks of RAM, or maybe because that's actually faster than waiting for the absolute last availability of RAM, and then suddenly you're trying to free it, but then you have no working memory to actually do state saving with. I've written software where we saw drastic speed increases when freeing memory aggressively instead of minimally. Anyways, the point is that 2 GB or RAM won't solve that problem when you're already aggressively freeing. And, even then, 2 GB will still get exhausted by some power users, so the problem would still exist, and just become more intermittent. Like, you'd think you could count on it keeping your webpage in memory, and then every once in a blue moon, when you need it most, it will fail you.
With state saving, it's supposed to be that users shouldn't perceive a difference between switching back to an app that remained in memory or one that was saved and restored. There's probably just so much state in a web browser, that they're stuck on the fence, where aggressively state saving small state is better, but reluctantly state saving large state is better. Maybe this will get addressed in future iOS versions.
The point is, that iOS uses new concepts of memory management and multitasking, it's not using the desktop/server notion of paging out RAM to a spinning disk, or some 1990s idea of just having enough RAM and crossing your fingers.
What I don't get, is this insistence that having 2 GB of RAM is the solution. Clearly, fixing Safari state saving and restoration is the solution.
Sounds like the issue became noticeable after Apple changed some memory freeing algorithm in iOS 7 to be more aggressive, maybe so they could power down banks of RAM, or maybe because that's actually faster than waiting for the absolute last availability of RAM, and then suddenly you're trying to free it, but then you have no working memory to actually do state saving with. I've written software where we saw drastic speed increases when freeing memory aggressively instead of minimally. Anyways, the point is that 2 GB or RAM won't solve that problem when you're already aggressively freeing. And, even then, 2 GB will still get exhausted by some power users, so the problem would still exist, and just become more intermittent. Like, you'd think you could count on it keeping your webpage in memory, and then every once in a blue moon, when you need it most, it will fail you.
With state saving, it's supposed to be that users shouldn't perceive a difference between switching back to an app that remained in memory or one that was saved and restored. There's probably just so much state in a web browser, that they're stuck on the fence, where aggressively state saving small state is better, but reluctantly state saving large state is better. Maybe this will get addressed in future iOS versions.
The point is, that iOS uses new concepts of memory management and multitasking, it's not using the desktop/server notion of paging out RAM to a spinning disk, or some 1990s idea of just having enough RAM and crossing your fingers.
He says without even considering battery life.
iPhone 5 has twice as much RAM as iPhone 4S. How did the battery life compare? iPhone 6 Plus has a bigger battery. Another GB won't make a difference.
They aren't wrong that it would hinder battery life in some capacity. The rMBP also uses a form of low-power DDR3 (DDR3L instead of LPDDR3). Yes, active power is somewhat lower on LPDDR3, but the biggest benefit comes from much lower standby power consumption.
The laptop has a battery that is somewhere between 10-20x the capacity of an iPhone's. In addition, the contribution of the RAM to the overall power consumption of a laptop is probably negligible in comparison to the other components, whereas like components in a phone require far less power, making the RAM draw a higher percentage of overall system power (i.e. an Intel i7 vs the A8 or a 15" screen vs a 4.7" screen). So a doubling of the RAM for a laptop vs a phone is going to affect battery life less for the former because the RAM contributes less to the overall power draw.
How much of a difference would doubling the RAM make in the case of the iPhone? I don't know for sure, but it does make SOME difference. Is it enough to justify keeping it at 1GB? Personally, if I had a say, I would have just opted for a thicker profile and larger battery to compensate...
So
couldn't go to 2G ram and still not make it by? Oh no, they LOVE their fans. Just not as much as dem dollah bills... For me, comments that performance is decent isn't specific enough. I want to hear that they tested and Safari didn't reload when switching between multiple tabs (and that you don't have to manually quit out of apps to get it to work right). Any reviews specifically get into that issue?
I'd love to give Apple the benefit of the doubt but they've botched this specific problem in the past.
I'd love to give Apple the benefit of the doubt but they've botched this specific problem in the past.
Guys, Im beginning to think this is definitely an iPad issue. I looked up what this Safari page refreshing issue is and tried to duplicate it on my iPhone 5S. I opened up 7 moderately resource heavy websites, (youtube being one of them) and safari didn't reload any of the pages when switching between them. I cycled between them nearly 3 times and still no refresh on the pages.
So this got me thinking wait a minute.. why might this happen on an iPad.. both are running the same OS, same ram.. As an app developer who has used instruments and profiled my app applications I can tell you the biggest consumers of memory are your app assets.. (pictures, music, videos) that an app might load into ram. Why does that matter? Well, iPads run at 2048X1536 resolution. An application image asset that might require 1.5MB on an iPhone5S may require 5MB on an iPad, that number is an approximation (image compression varies) but you get the idea, they'll require more memory... I can't say I have done the testing but my line of thinking above leads me to believe iPad applications are going to use much more memory than their iPhone counterparts simply due to higher resolution that the device supports. This leads to a couple of additional thoughts:
1. How many websites out there are detecting iPad users and loading iPad retina images on Safari.. think of the increased memory allocation being required because of this over the regular iPhone. This can and most likely will lead to the increased Safari refreshing iPad users are seeing.
2. The new iPhones have higher resolution.. what will be the memory impact due to this?.. My assumption is that all apps prior to iOS8 will consume the same obviously. But as they are upgraded for the new iOS devices (iPhone 6, iPhone 6+) their application assets and as a result the applications themselves will all consume more ram. How much more? Im going to guess 25% or more but of course testing is needed and of course i may be completely wrong on that number. This point is alleviated by the fact that apps don't truly remain in the background in iOS and apps are deallocated/allocated as they are used and not used. Most times in iOS you'll have one app truly taking up resources in the foreground and smaller processes (background apps) taking very little ram.
3. Java which is notorious for memory consumption is the underlying programming language behind Android.. Now couple Androids use of Java with the super high resolution display panels in use by various android phones nowadays.. My thinking leads to me believe that not only are Android phones more memory inefficient vs (iOS and Objective C/Swift) in general but couple that with their super high res displays and I'm also going to bet 2GB of ram is not enough for these devices, 3GB is probably recommended and 2GB the lowest you should have..
My 2 cents
So this got me thinking wait a minute.. why might this happen on an iPad.. both are running the same OS, same ram.. As an app developer who has used instruments and profiled my app applications I can tell you the biggest consumers of memory are your app assets.. (pictures, music, videos) that an app might load into ram. Why does that matter? Well, iPads run at 2048X1536 resolution. An application image asset that might require 1.5MB on an iPhone5S may require 5MB on an iPad, that number is an approximation (image compression varies) but you get the idea, they'll require more memory... I can't say I have done the testing but my line of thinking above leads me to believe iPad applications are going to use much more memory than their iPhone counterparts simply due to higher resolution that the device supports. This leads to a couple of additional thoughts:
1. How many websites out there are detecting iPad users and loading iPad retina images on Safari.. think of the increased memory allocation being required because of this over the regular iPhone. This can and most likely will lead to the increased Safari refreshing iPad users are seeing.
2. The new iPhones have higher resolution.. what will be the memory impact due to this?.. My assumption is that all apps prior to iOS8 will consume the same obviously. But as they are upgraded for the new iOS devices (iPhone 6, iPhone 6+) their application assets and as a result the applications themselves will all consume more ram. How much more? Im going to guess 25% or more but of course testing is needed and of course i may be completely wrong on that number. This point is alleviated by the fact that apps don't truly remain in the background in iOS and apps are deallocated/allocated as they are used and not used. Most times in iOS you'll have one app truly taking up resources in the foreground and smaller processes (background apps) taking very little ram.
3. Java which is notorious for memory consumption is the underlying programming language behind Android.. Now couple Androids use of Java with the super high resolution display panels in use by various android phones nowadays.. My thinking leads to me believe that not only are Android phones more memory inefficient vs (iOS and Objective C/Swift) in general but couple that with their super high res displays and I'm also going to bet 2GB of ram is not enough for these devices, 3GB is probably recommended and 2GB the lowest you should have..
My 2 cents
Last edited:
My guess is that it is because Apple is indeed obeying, and that's why Safari is so aggressive in its management of memory. Otherwise, it might just consume whatever it can take without "discipline".
performance is. 1GB of ram pretty much says you'll need to re-launch your apps upon resume in the future.
All the other manufacturers have managed to add 2 and now 3 GB of RAM without a battery life drop.
The fact is, if RAM adds an extra 2% drain then this is made up by the CPU requiring 25% less battery. With each new iteration of the components they use less battery. The screen, the sensors, the radios etc. so if something requires any more then it's offset by the number of things that require less.
So, they added a co-processor last year with extra sensor suite, and now this year there are even more sensors, more radio bands and now NFC as well as a double resolution screen. Where is everyone complaining about their power draws? No, only people complaining are those who don't want an extra GB because the Apple gods deemed it not necessary this year round to add it.
You can bet your bottom dollar that if the iPhones came with 2GB now that there would be zero apologists condemning Apple for the addition, and would be instead praising at their feet. Just like how iPhone didn't need to be bigger, or when the 5 came out with passbook which was clearly intended for payments "didn't need NFC because it's a joke and no one supports it", Apple turn around and add NFC and where are those comments now? "ApplePay is the greatest thing evveer" and everyone is queuing up for massive iPhone.
These people hinder progress.
If I think far back enough, I'm pretty sure people where knocking android for having dual cores. Who needs dual cores? One is enough for iOS as it's optimised. Then, the A5 appears and it's like Prometheus giving fire to man.
I love Apple, but I hate when they skimp, and if hate their fans even more for their blind devotion.
The fact is, if RAM adds an extra 2% drain then this is made up by the CPU requiring 25% less battery. With each new iteration of the components they use less battery. The screen, the sensors, the radios etc. so if something requires any more then it's offset by the number of things that require less.
So, they added a co-processor last year with extra sensor suite, and now this year there are even more sensors, more radio bands and now NFC as well as a double resolution screen. Where is everyone complaining about their power draws? No, only people complaining are those who don't want an extra GB because the Apple gods deemed it not necessary this year round to add it.
You can bet your bottom dollar that if the iPhones came with 2GB now that there would be zero apologists condemning Apple for the addition, and would be instead praising at their feet. Just like how iPhone didn't need to be bigger, or when the 5 came out with passbook which was clearly intended for payments "didn't need NFC because it's a joke and no one supports it", Apple turn around and add NFC and where are those comments now? "ApplePay is the greatest thing evveer" and everyone is queuing up for massive iPhone.
These people hinder progress.
If I think far back enough, I'm pretty sure people where knocking android for having dual cores. Who needs dual cores? One is enough for iOS as it's optimised. Then, the A5 appears and it's like Prometheus giving fire to man.
I love Apple, but I hate when they skimp, and if hate their fans even more for their blind devotion.
You said it yourself: better GPU, new co-processors, new sensors, and larger screens eat power, offsetting the savings from increased efficiency of other components. In electronics design you make trade-offs to meet a spec.
Those other phones also have higher capacity batteries. Seriously, check out the battery specs for other flagships. They dwarf the rumored capacity of the battery for the 6. Still, Apple claims the 6 offers improved battery life over the 5s. For the 6 plus, Apple decided to take the larger battery and make the phone last even longer instead of adding more stuff. Battery life is also a common complaint among iPhone users, probably more so than even the RAM issues because it actually does affect nearly all mobile use-cases.
I'm not arguing against the idea of 2GB, I wanted it too. But the reality is that we didn't get it. You think that means Apple is giving us the finger. I'm merely surmising that there is a possibility that they operated under different design goals than we might have. Yes, it sucks, though I suppose I don't feel as strongly about it as others.
As for NFC, Apple waited until they had the secure enclave and deals in place to make it a viable option from a risk-reward standpoint. It's not a joke anymore because it has widespread support and built-in reliable biometric security. As a reasonably secure payment method, it seems ready for prime time more so than before.
As for your claims about apologists hindering progress, most of your claims support the opposite conclusion. Apple makes changes all the time despite the adoring masses claiming changes aren't needed. They are a company, and a smart company will change course whenever it benefits them to do so. I generally prefer their typical approach of waiting until something is fully baked before offering it up, though I'm well aware that they have had their share of half-assed flops too.
Last edited:
So it's official - 1GB. Deal with it kids.
What will you spend your time on:
~ 1/ Complaining about a specification you cannot change?
~ 2/ Enjoying using a wonderful phone, the specs of which you still cannot change?
It's got 1GB of RAM. If you have a "complaint" about a device which you haven't yet used, and therefore perceive a "flaw" to be inevitable, may I guide you in the direction of Apple support, where they're paid to take your call, and also not be able to do anything about your pointless grumbling?
I recall all the rhetorical uproar about iOS 7, last year, and now... silence. Just another year in the world of the "entitled" and the "hard done by" whiners.
PS: No matter what you say, how you attempt to re-phrase it or change the words around, I'm still one hundred million percent certain that Apple know more about the inner workings of their own devices, and how to design and optimise them than any of us do, no matter how many times you say these things, regardless of your "take" on it. If you think you know better about how the symbiosis of iOS and Apple mobile devices functions, you are wrong before you even start.
Thanks. You may now resume grumbling into your coffee about a phone which you haven't even held, let alone used, yet.
What will you spend your time on:
~ 1/ Complaining about a specification you cannot change?
~ 2/ Enjoying using a wonderful phone, the specs of which you still cannot change?
It's got 1GB of RAM. If you have a "complaint" about a device which you haven't yet used, and therefore perceive a "flaw" to be inevitable, may I guide you in the direction of Apple support, where they're paid to take your call, and also not be able to do anything about your pointless grumbling?
I recall all the rhetorical uproar about iOS 7, last year, and now... silence. Just another year in the world of the "entitled" and the "hard done by" whiners.
PS: No matter what you say, how you attempt to re-phrase it or change the words around, I'm still one hundred million percent certain that Apple know more about the inner workings of their own devices, and how to design and optimise them than any of us do, no matter how many times you say these things, regardless of your "take" on it. If you think you know better about how the symbiosis of iOS and Apple mobile devices functions, you are wrong before you even start.
Thanks. You may now resume grumbling into your coffee about a phone which you haven't even held, let alone used, yet.
Last edited:
No surprise coming from a typical Applefanboy. You'd rather be pro Apple even if it means to put consumer at disadvantage. Love Apple but don't love every buisness practices or decision they make. I think we can honestly say that with Apple, it has never been "want it now" and got it..more like milk it now and give them later after cashing in. Remember, if we keep saying it's ok and look the other way just because we love Apple. They won't change, they will keep doing what they like to max profit, while we get them lame upgrades.
my god who cares if its 1gb ram. obviously the phone still runs super fast, and faster than the previous iphones. the kinds of people who care about how inadequate 1gb of ram will be in 3 years are the same kinds of people who wont keep their iphone 6 and buy an iphone 7 instead.
if you want a phone where all the uber specs are thrown in for shock and awe, buy a samsung. they love advertising mundane stats nobody cares about. theres a reason more people buy iphones than any other phone, or why nobody stays up til 3am to buy any other phone. its just hilarious to see grown adults whining about something so trivial about a phone they dont even have yet about a problem that doesn't exist.
if you want a phone where all the uber specs are thrown in for shock and awe, buy a samsung. they love advertising mundane stats nobody cares about. theres a reason more people buy iphones than any other phone, or why nobody stays up til 3am to buy any other phone. its just hilarious to see grown adults whining about something so trivial about a phone they dont even have yet about a problem that doesn't exist.
BS. Just tried it. No reloading.
Someone show me how to trigger a RAM fault. If I can't because it's so "intermittent" it never happens, or I have to open 8 tabs in Safari while playing Bioshock, then it's a problem created by abusing the hardware, not through "normal use"
And all this "power user" crap is just that: crap. Whining because something malfunctions doing something nearly no one else uses it for doesn't make you a "power user". It just means you are unable to purchase the right hardware to meet your unusual needs.
For 99.9% of users, 1GB is plenty.
I couldn't care less about the .01%, and evidently, neither does Apple. Neener neener
Because you say so? Yeah, great logic. And believe me, it is not the .01 percent. Don't be ridiculous.
You don't even know me, so it's no surprise you are wrong in your assessment of me.
I don't love every business decision they make. I just understand that they are business decisions, while the decisions you make are consumer decisions. I'm the first to say that if Apple is not meeting your needs, then look elsewhere. If you're not willing to do that, then you are putting yourself at Apple's mercy.
I will never buy another lightning cable from Apple. The ones I have owned have all frayed. Apple charges a premium price for them, and evidently uses a manufacturer who uses inferior materials. I am not satisfied with the quality. The cabling on their MacBook power supplies is not any better.
Im not joining your crusade to get more memory, because the problems you report are not problems for me. I'm also not convinced that total system RAM is the limiting factor that is causing your problems. Thirdly, I don't feel your victimhood, because I know you have the power to stop buying Apple products if this is really important to you. You just have to choose to exercise that power.
actually you should just S.T.F.U.
iPhone 5 does not suck because it still having 1 GB of RAM, the same as the 5s and the 6/6+, so all the fu**ing apps you fu**ing use are updated to runs on devices w/ 1 GB, and also iOS is made to runs flawlessly with 1 GB.
but only for NOW, because 6S will get 2 GB and iOS 9 will be optimized for 2 GB, so as all apps you use. after this, any iPhone with 1 GB you have will behave like ***** (just like the iPhone 4s did on iOS 6, 4s had 512 MB when the iPhone 5 came out with 1 GB) including the beloved iPhone 6 with its "more than enough 1 GB".
it will be a disposable smartphone, in 12 month you can throw it away.
No it isn't.
Actually the 64 bit impact isn't that bad, in many cases apps are more efficient with memory use. Apple did some clever things with iOS's 64 bit support.
Then we have iOS 8 which in my opinion is better all around compared to iOS 7. Even so Safari sucks bad on a 1GB machine.
----------
That is the whole point it doesn't work well! Now I will be the first to say that Safaris reload problem isn't always RAM related, sometimes it does exactly what it is suppose to do. However if you have ever tried switching back and forth between apps eventually you end up with data loss because something runs out of RAM.
So while not everything people complain about here is RAM related, enough is that it impacts the user experience.
I look at it as selling a product that lives up to billing. You are right though RAM is relatively cheap.