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Will iPhone 5s magically slow down with iOS 8?

Cod3rror

Cod3rror

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 18, 2010
1,838
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I don't want to throw in any conspiracy theories, but every time a new iPhone comes out, the previous one becomes slower with the updated OS.

4S is slower with iOS 7, even thought it's a very capable hardware.

Anandtech claims the hardware in 5s is so powerful, there is nothing currently out that stresses it. So I wonder if it'll be as smooth as it is now with iOS 8.
 
Cod3rror said:
Anandtech claims the hardware in 5s is so powerful, there is nothing currently out that stresses it. So I wonder if it'll be as smooth as it is now with iOS 8.
Click to expand...

Go check out the iOS8 forum and see what people are saying about its performance.
 
That's a different experience than I've had. iOS 6 was about the same as 4 and 5 but iOS 7 was noticeably faster on my iPhone 4 and 5. Better battery life too.
 
3 things.

iOS 8 is a beta, performance right now will not reflect the release version.

The iPhone 4S is two generations old. The iPhone 5s is current generation, and each will be a generation older when iOS 8 comes out.

Each .0 version of iOS is the slowest version of that series. The point updates generally regain much of the lost performance. However they are optimised for the newest generation hardware.

So inevitably there will be some performance reduction. This becomes most noticeable after the second major version update IMO.
 
antiprotest said:
That's a different experience than I've had. iOS 6 was about the same as 4 and 5 but iOS 7 was noticeably faster on my iPhone 4 and 5. Better battery life too.
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Splutter. The i4 slowed down noticeably with iOS6, but iOS7 killed it.
The i5 flew along with iOS6 and was the fastest iPhone ever. Both the i5 and 5S blaze along with iOS7 but it isn't in Apple's best interests to allow older phones to run as well as the latest and greatest. I expect that they will bloat iOS8 out with some 64 bit-preferring software which doesn't run as well on the i5. Never mind, the i5 is lousy anyway and I can't wait to get rid of mine.:D
 
sunking101 said:
Splutter. The i4 slowed down noticeably with iOS6, but iOS7 killed it.
The i5 flew along with iOS6 and was the fastest iPhone ever. Both the i5 and 5S blaze along with iOS7 but it isn't in Apple's best interests to allow older phones to run as well as the latest and greatest. I expect that they will bloat iOS8 out with some 64 bit-preferring software which doesn't run as well on the i5. Never mind, the i5 is lousy anyway and I can't wait to get rid of mine.:D
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This, tbh I remember my 4 occasionally struggling with iOS5 I just remember thinking even back then the phone wasn't powerful as it could have been. iOS6 made my 4 unbearable at times with app launching at times, and 7 don't even go there. Thankfully the 5S is a breath of fresh air, and I wouldn't want an iOS experience any slower than that.
 
iOS 8 on the 5S performs just as good as 7.1.1 does if not slightly better. Not even the slightest sign of a slowdown or lag. Keep in mind it's the first beta and performance could definitely be improved by the GM, but so far so good.
 
The 5 was the first phone that had loads of performance overhead. The previous slowdowns were due to hardware limitations.
 
It's not magic. The requirements go up for each OS release, you can't just add new features for nothing unless the previous version was unoptimized.


I wouldn't say the 4S is very capable. It's mere 512MB of RAM is going to hold it back. The CPU and and GPU are pretty capable but the RAM isn't.
The 4S handles iOS 7 far far better than the 4 because of it's substantially more powerful GPU but the RAM will definitely start to slow it down a lot soon.
The 4 wasn't even that much of a bump up from the 3GS anyway so it's no surprise it's been struggling so quickly.

The 6 will likely have 2GB of RAM so you're probably going to see the 5 and 5S start to slow down with future iOS updates because of their lower RAM.
 
Last edited:
Cod3rror said:
I don't want to throw in any conspiracy theories, but every time a new iPhone comes out, the previous one becomes slower with the updated OS.

4S is slower with iOS 7, even thought it's a very capable hardware.

Anandtech claims the hardware in 5s is so powerful, there is nothing currently out that stresses it. So I wonder if it'll be as smooth as it is now with iOS 8.
Click to expand...

Because added functionality adds to the CPU load and may take more memory also.
 
I think the 5S will take longer to slow down compared to a device like the 4, etc, just because of the 64-bit processor.
 
Cod3rror said:
I don't want to throw in any conspiracy theories, but every time a new iPhone comes out, the previous one becomes slower with the updated OS.
Click to expand...

Newer more demanding software runs slower on older less capable hardware. This shouldn't be a surprise. There is no conspiracy here; Apple isn't doing it on purpose.
 
Camoxide said:
It's not magic. The requirements go up for each OS release, you can't just add new features for nothing unless the previous version was unoptimized.
Click to expand...

Back in the day we used to go through and identify slow code sections and hand code them in assembly for 10-100x speedup so new versions of the software were much faster. This "each new release is naturally slower" thinking is, quite frankly, bullshOt and reflects the pathetic decline of what we used to once call "American Exceptionalism."

The recent purchase of that photo software by Apple is a stark example. The guy improved iPhone camera ability 100x by... wait for it... hand coding in assembly.

WTF are they teaching programmers these days? Does anyone even know what I'm talking about? Sigh.

Maybe it's just that truly brilliant people don't do programming these days but instead go where the money is guaranteed: finance.
 
My experience is, and others may vary, the iPhone will run very well on both the OS it originally shipped with and the one that replaced that. The third one will slow it down, and the forth practically kills it. So to answer you question the 5s should run perfectly on iOS 8, it's iOS 9 where you'll see a difference.
 
If anything will hold back the 5S it would be the RAM. If you want conspiracy theories maybe consider that Apple intentionally limited the RAM in a super-powerful phone to limit its lifespan so you'll update within the three years or so. If the 5S had 2GB you'd be good for five years or more before it slowed down. Not sure I really believe that but who knows.
 
FrozenInferno said:
If anything will hold back the 5S it would be the RAM. If you want conspiracy theories maybe consider that Apple intentionally limited the RAM in a super-powerful phone to limit its lifespan so you'll update within the three years or so. If the 5S had 2GB you'd be good for five years or more before it slowed down. Not sure I really believe that but who knows.
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I absolutely believe it to be true, the RAM on the 5 and 5S is an issue now - let alone in a couple of years time. Intentionally crippled and Apple will make sure that future releases of iOS are RAM-hungry, just to expose it.
 
The A7 with M7 coprocessor is an absolute beast of a CPU. It's not even being used at its full potential now with the 5S I can only imagine what A8 can do.
 
Appl3FTW said:
The A7 with M7 coprocessor is an absolute beast of a CPU. It's not even being used at its full potential now with the 5S I can only imagine what A8 can do.
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Yes, the A7-M7 combo is insanely powerful, but eventually you're going to need enough RAM available to put the massive amounts of data the processor can handle otherwise it will slow down. It's like pouring water from a five gallon bucket into a coffee mug, it can only work with so much.
 
As typical idevice, hardware should run 2 iOS from its original. Ie iOS 7 to 5s, 5s will support iOS 9. Not the optimized version because every year hardware and iOS gets better but it should support it.
 
Appl3FTW said:
As typical idevice, hardware should run 2 iOS from its original. Ie iOS 7 to 5s, 5s will support iOS 9. Not the optimized version because every year hardware and iOS gets better but it should support it.
Click to expand...

What we're saying is the 5S should be capable of lasting longer than that if not for Apple intentionally handcuffing it. They are capable of making an iDevice that could last four or five iOS cycles without seeing a significant decrease in performance but choose not to. They want you buying a new phone every 2-3 years instead of 4-5 years.
 
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