Video Shows Benefits of 2GB RAM in iPhone 6s

[Thunderhawks]

The entire time I've been using the 6+. I could tell it needed the ram. Well I'm used to it and iOS 9 hasn't been too bad. I'll be getting the 7+ anyways.

By 2018 = 7+S should be really good with 256 GB and 4GB Ram.

and for a form factor it will be just the thickness of the 16 MP camera, nothing protruding, just that lens thickness
and no battery adios 12 will only use 128K of memory with the A19X chip.. 3D touch via your Apple watch

 

[bpeeps]

And constant website/app reloading doesn't affect battery life?
How come iPhone 6s with a smaller battery than the regular 6 does just fine with 2 gb of RAM?

A9 processor is more efficient as been said in every article about this ever.

 

[Tubamajuba]

It will be another 5 years before an apple phone has more than 2gb of ram.

Not that long...

I'll hope for it to be in the 7. Mrs. thequik is on S cycle.

Not that soon...

Looking at Apple's recent trend for RAM in the iPhone, two years is par for the course. Sorry

They didn't do it to save a dollar on the iPHone 6, they did it to make the iPHone 6 become obsolete a year sooner than it needed to so they can sell you an iPhone 7 or 7S down the line.

Then why did they improve Safari's performance on older devices? My iPhone 6 reloads tabs far, FAR less often than it did on iOS 8. I was kind of shocked, actually. Sure, iOS 9 lags on occasion on older devices, but it lags on new devices too- the only phone significantly worse than the others is the 6 Plus. You'd think they would go after the easier targets like the three year old iPhone 5, wouldn't you?

Let's face it, not many people had issues with 1 GB of RAM outside of the kind of people that visit this site. I don't know a single person that has complained about the memory-related issues that people on these forums experience. Now, it's obvious that the same issues exist on all iOS devices with 1 GB of RAM or less, but non-power users rarely notice them. If Apple wanted to "attack" older devices to make them less capable, they'd have to do far more than skimp out on RAM.

And before people attack and demean my very existence as a human being, I am absolutely glad that Apple made the move to 2 GB. Because yes, I do notice and appreciate the improvements that it brings, and it was absolutely necessary for the progress of iOS as a software platform.

 

[Dmunjal]

A9 processor is more efficient as been said in every article about this ever.

The iPad Air 2 didn't use the A9 and offered the same battery life as the iPad Air.

Enough of this. Battery life is the last reason they didn't put it more RAM. I'm sure Apple could have put in a few extra mAh if necessary but it would have made it thicker.

 

[Cmd-Z]

Hopefully with 2GB RAM my place within a playlist is not forgotten after pausing and using the iPhone for other purposes, annoying as hell how it'll repeat a song that's already been played.

 

[Ichabod.]

Hopefully with 2GB RAM my place within a playlist is not forgotten after pausing and using the iPhone for other purposes, annoying as hell how it'll repeat a song that's already been played.

I wish Apple just took the extra processing power to store this in the HD before letting Music go to sleep. >.>

 

[SgtPepper12]

It was/is. I'd like to see a comparison showing how much faster the battery is drained because of the extra RAM. Then we'd know if the increase to 2GB was worth it. Unfortunately, because many other components changed along with the RAM, that would be very difficult analysis.

The extra RAM doesn't really affect battery life that much. Even on standby RAM only contributes just a few percent to the energy consumption. Of course, when in use it gets even smaller, as the display, CPU, graphics eat up like 3/4 of the battery. It's really no big deal. I guess there are also energy saving methods built in that turn off parts of the RAM when not in use. I'd say in the worst case, the added RAM decreases the battery life by 1%, which is like fifteen minutes or something. Also, and I think this is very important to consider as well, added RAM saves the CPU and GSM-module work, as it doesn't have to refresh apps like Safari all the time. All in all I'm even inclined to think that the added RAM actually increases battery life in a real life scenario. Think about sitting in a train with bad reception and having to reload a website you opened at home. That eats up so much unnecessary energy. The added RAM is nothing in comparison.

Anyway, I think Apple really should have added the RAM to the 6. There's simply no good reason why they didn't.

 

[citysnaps]

Why does Apple put so little ram, which likely costs them in the $1-$2 per GB range, in such an expensive phone?

Because it's not necessary. If that's really important to you, I'm sure HTC and Moto have a phone with your name on it.

 

[Tech198]

yes we have 50 tabs open at once we need more ram.... What is the % of those users ?

 

[a0me]

Oh please, stop pulling numbers out of your ass.
My 6Plus couldn't even keep 3 tabs open without refreshing.

If only the lack of RAM affected Safari's tabs. Literally every apps that haven't been used for more than a few minutes need to reload every single time.

 

[a0me]

yes we have 50 tabs open at once we need more ram.... What is the % of those users ?

100%. This is unfortunately not limited to Safari and its tabs. Try to switch between a couple of apps or open an app after having left your iPhone idle for a few minutes and it will reload the app every. single. time.

 

[Imserious]

One of the reasons Apple stays conservative with how much RAM the devices have is because RAM must always have power from the battery, so with more RAM you get less battery life.

I agree, This is what people don't get. Its also awesome to see them get the same battery life out of something with more ram, smaller battery and a bigger CPU. Refinement is Apples business.

 

[a0me]

This is the best feature of the new iPhone and Apple won't even specifically acknowledge it.

Sometimes, specs DO matter.

It's actually the only reason I will probably get a 6s as the constant app reloading on my current iPhone is infuriating.

 

[Zetaprime]

It's actually the only reason I will probably get a 6s as the constant app reloading on my current iPhone is infuriating.

It does make quite a difference now that I've been using it for a couple of days.

 

[MacAddict1978]

But i thought 1GB of Ram was enough........

Now everyone can say
"Why don't we have 3GB like all the android phones have had for the past two years...."

They aren't touting this because they are still under their competitors. I don't get why this doesn't have at least 3. This isn't even a big deal by todays standards. You give a device a powerful processor and still suffocate it with low ram. For iPhone users I'm sure this is a great addition, but you deserve more.... especially for the price of the device.

 

[shanson27]

Safari feels snappier with the 2 gigs of ram

 

[dazz87]

Safari feels snappier with the 2 gigs of ram

yeah and i bet other apps will benefit from the 2gb of ram. Iphone 6/6plus should had 2GB and the 6s/plus should had 3GB....

 

[Zetaprime]

Now everyone can say
"Why don't we have 3GB like all the android phones have had for the past two years...."

They aren't touting this because they are still under their competitors. I don't get why this doesn't have at least 3. This isn't even a big deal by todays standards. You give a device a powerful processor and still suffocate it with low ram. For iPhone users I'm sure this is a great addition, but you deserve more.... especially for the price of the device.

I never understood Apple's stinginess with the ram. It not like it would add anything significant to the cost of the device. You pay hundreds of dollars and a few cents would not be noticed by any customers. That is unless somehow, higher capacity chips would somehow not fit on the logic board. Maybe some engineer types in this forum could explain a possible reason.

 

[nutjob]

Because it's not necessary. If that's really important to you, I'm sure HTC and Moto have a phone with your name on it.

Well the main difference having more memory makes is that you can run do more with your phone and it will do things faster. So I guess you think those things are unnecessary.

Are you feeling sore that you paid 5 times much for a phone that has less memory that a cheap HTC or Moto?

 

[garylapointe]

The iPhone 6s is able to keep more websites active in memory without requiring a reload when returning to the tab. The additional RAM should also allow more apps to remain active in memory without relaunching.

I've never understood why they just didn't cache it to the storage on the phone instead of purging it. I understand it's nowhere near as fast as the 2GB in memory, but it's got to be faster than reloading it.

At some point 2GB isn't going to be enough (just like 1GB and 512k wasn't) and they're going to have to give up something for it, I don't want it to be my web pages...

Gary

 

[mdlooker]

I just tested my 6+ and see that I can have about 3 tabs open before they'll have to reload. I never noticed really before because it really didn't matter much to me. I guess it's one of those "oh thats nice" type of things when I get the 7.

 

[Dmunjal]

I've never understood why they just didn't cache it to the storage on the phone instead of purging it. I understand it's nowhere near as fast as the 2GB in memory, but it's got to be faster than reloading it.

At some point 2GB isn't going to be enough (just like 1GB and 512k wasn't) and they're going to have to give up something for it, I don't want it to be my web pages...

Gary

IOS doesn't use backing store (caching) like other modern operating systems use.

 

[yticolev]

yes we have 50 tabs open at once we need more ram.... What is the % of those users ?

Most of my tabs are opened from emails - many forums including this one send email notifications when there are new posts in a thread of interest. Safari is set to open a new page (I haven't found any options in settings) when you click on a link in a non-Safari app like Mail. So I routinely end up with 15 open tabs before I get around to closing them. Even easier now to skip closing them in iOS 9 with the back to Mail link to go through more emails.

That said, my iPhone 5 will reload games, Weather, Maps, and a single Safari page when I cycle between them as I do on trips. That is a real pain, especially when I lose internet access while driving.

I first discovered this behavior when taking a flight to Europe. I thought I was being clever by loading up 20 pages for viewing later. I couldn't read one of them during the flight.

 

[TommyA6]

Some people here...
Actually wanting less for their money. No Apple, give me 1 gb of RAM over 2 gb, because I want you to earn even more money and I want an inferior product which will be rendered obsolete much sooner

Apple was too cheap to give 6(plus) 2 gb of RAM. No other "excuse" makes any sense whatsoever.
-RAM doesn't consume that much power to begin with
-Battery life wouldn't have been a concern. iPad Air 2 lasts the same as iPad Air 1 and it has a significantly smaller battery. And it also has a massively powerful A8X, which was 2.5x faster in GPU and 1.5x in CPU.
-Keeping more stuff in RAM means less reloading of everything, which means less battery drain.
-A9 isn't much more power efficient than A8. I'm not sure whether it's more power efficient at all. It's made using 14 mm process, but it is significantly more powerful than 20 nm made A8.

 

[639051]

Welcome to the MacRumours forums, where some members complain about getting more for their money.

To you guys saying no one else complains about memory related issues .. perhaps you could view it from the non-techie standpoint of THEY DONT KNOW WHAT RAM IS IN THE FIRST PLACE. If they have no clue what it is how could they possibly attribute it to their problem?

Some of you never cease to amaze me.