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Will the iPhone 6 Plus ever catch up to the performance of the 5S and 6?

S

shenfrey

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 23, 2010
2,538
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I have noticed that there is definitely a difference in the smoothness and responsiveness of the 5S and the 6 when compared to the 6 Plus. it isn't a massive difference but its threes a difference for it to be noticeable.

i wasn't sure if this is just because of the OS or the fact that the hardware inside the iphone 6 plus is not sufficient to run the 1080p display its packing.

What do you guys think?
 
My 6 Plus runs great. Just as smooth and responsive as my 6 and my 5S. No issues here.

Wait a bit, though. I am sure you will have many members swoop in who share your opinion.
 
At times, and frequently, it's the least responsive iPhone I've ever owned.
Got to be hardware if the i6 is normal.
 
There seems to be a consensus that the 6+ will be much like the iPhone 4 of previous, redesign and high resolution display underpowered by the GPU. What should be noted is that unlike the iPhone 4, the 6+ did get a small GPU upgrade (50% better compared to the 5s, the 4 used the same GPU on the 3GS powering a 480*320 display). This can be attributed to the scaling that 6+ does. I personally don't have one but one of my family members will upgrade soon and I will be able to see whether or not those lagging issue are justified.
 
Technically, it will always lag behind the 6 because the plus always has to first render the screen at 3x resolution and then down sample it to fit the 1080p display. So, the processor has to calculate the values for more pixels on the plus than on the 6 and then has to do the down sample calculation, something the 6 doesn't have to do at all. Since the processor is the same on both phones, the 6 plus will always lag behind the 6 performance-wise due to the extra calculations it always has to do.

That being said, this difference in performance is much more noticeable in benchmarks than in real use. Both phones are plenty fast for me (really that has been true since the iPhone 5). Yes the 6 plus lags occasionally. But I attribute that more to the numerous graphical glitches in iOS 8 associated with the plus' new landscape mode. If Apple ever gets its act together and fixes these bugs, I think you will notice little difference between the two phones in every day use. Even if there is a dip in performance, the bigger screen, better camera, and longer battery life more than make the plus worth it in my mind.
 
MacDevil7334 said:
. If Apple ever gets its act together and fixes these bugs, I think you will notice little difference between the two phones in every day use. Even if there is a dip in performance, the bigger screen, better camera, and longer battery life more than make the plus worth it in my mind.
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Couldn't agree with you more. They are both equally great phones. But If the A7 can power the iPad Air 1st Gen, with far more pixels to push, then couldn't it be very possible that the "lagness" comes from software, instead of hardware. The only time my Plus lagged was when switching between multiple apps, requiring the RAM and processor to work OT. Between emails, multiple web sites, and social media (all for work) I've noticed emails take the hit first, then browsing, then everything else after. Possibly the 2GB of RAM in this department would most surely help. And with the other issues that others have been having.:apple::cool:

For the most part, the use of my 6+ has been fluid. I believe that this phone would've been the 5 star phone with the bump in RAM. Even if the regular 6 stood a 1GB of RAM, and the Plus got the 2GB of RAM, upgrade, I think it would be justifiable. To just to make the 6+, last longer. This year, if the new 5.5 inch model has 2GB of RAM, I'll Probably get it, and hold onto it for a few. Since my job is BYOD, I would love to have that luxury of a lasting device for a few. That was my only discrepancy with the 6/6+. Everything else is great!
 
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Mine runs perfect I don't understand where the lag is suppose to be.
 
My launch day 6 Plus had some lag issues and occasional non responsive screen. Had it replaced by Apple a couple weeks ago and this one is absolutely perfect. No lag, etc.
 
Shanghaichica said:
Did you own the 3G?

My 6 plus is definitely more responsive than my 3G was.
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I never owned a 3G...

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tonyy said:
My launch day 6 Plus had some lag issues and occasional non responsive screen. Had it replaced by Apple a couple weeks ago and this one is absolutely perfect. No lag, etc.
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That's interesting. Did Apple conduct any tests to determine that it was a duffer, or did they just replace it anyway on your word?
 
T5BRICK said:
Id say the iPhone 3G and the 4 were both guilty of this. The iPhone 4 a little less so, but it was still a dog when it comes to performance in my opinion.
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Yeah you are probably right. I just remember my 4 being a big improvement over my 3G. The 6 plus is far from the worst iPhone I've used in terms of performance. My 5s was quite buggy. My 6 plus is probably the best iPhone I've used performance wise.
 
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RoboWarriorSr said:
There seems to be a consensus that the 6+ will be much like the iPhone 4 of previous, redesign and high resolution display underpowered by the GPU. What should be noted is that unlike the iPhone 4, the 6+ did get a small GPU upgrade (50% better compared to the 5s, the 4 used the same GPU on the 3GS powering a 480*320 display). This can be attributed to the scaling that 6+ does. I personally don't have one but one of my family members will upgrade soon and I will be able to see whether or not those lagging issue are justified.
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Funny people forget the iPhone 4 (launched in June 2010) had 2x the ram (512mb) as the 3GS.

The iPad 1 which launched in March 2010 only had 256mb of ram.

The iPhone 4 was fine performance wise for at least 2 years. I just couldn't stand the faulty proximity sensor that auto dialed people or hung up on people if I shifted my face ever so slightly. Supposed fixed with a later software update but I had numerous issues with it even with replacement iPhone 4.
 
I still have my 5s and my 6 plus runs as smooth if not better than it. The only problem i have encountered is random freezing in safari but its far and in between.
 
Not sure why people complain about the 6+ so much. Mine is smooth and quick. No issues at all. This is a sweet device for sure. Certainly not seeing anything like lag.
 
sunking101 said:
I never owned a 3G...

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That's interesting. Did Apple conduct any tests to determine that it was a duffer, or did they just replace it anyway on your word?
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They did. Ran some sort of diagnostics test and it did show some faulty codes. Not sure of the exact details but basically the Genius said a replacement is warranted.
 
Okay I just got a 6+ and moved everything from 6, I ran them both at the same time (loading apps, etc) and I can say in most cases 6+ isn't as fast or as smooth when loading apps compared to 6. It's especially noticeable when loading games that's connected to Game Centre because you'll know which phone loads first and usually it's 6. It's probably software-related issue, though, some apps seem to like 6+ better. We'll see again when the apps are all optimised for 6/6+.
 
It's always possible you have the faulty TLC flash in your device that causes lag. I had this in one of my 6's and it caused daily lag and freezes. Swapped it out and got one with MLC and no problems since.
 
I've noticed zero speed difference between the two phones. Like others have said though, the better screen, battery, and camera on the 6 Plus would make up for any deficiencies between the devices. At least to me anyways.
 
Well some people claim to experience some stuttering on the 6 Plus, so you wouldn't be completely alone there. Since we're talking about performance, I do wonder if anyone else shares this issue? I'm not by any means trying to hijack the thread, but thought it seemed relevant.

Do any of you experience any drop of frames/stuttering/lag when you tap the auto-scroll at the top of the screen and let the iPhone automatically scroll up?

For instance, say you're in settings and you scroll down to the very bottom with your finger and then tap the upper part of the screen. I've never encountered my iPhone 5 or 5S to show any sign of stuttering or frames dropping on iOS 7 when auto-scrolling, but somehow iOS 8 manages to make my iPhone 6 stutter. Unfortunately, this seems to happen in any long list or app when you scroll.

Having more than 25-50 contacts in "recents" within the phone app and then auto-scroll up, will make my device stutter or drop some frames. That consistent 60 fps smooth experience is simply not there. This is where I feel it becomes very evident and noticeable.

Same thing happens when you auto-scroll in top charts within the app store. Scroll past 100-150 and the tap the upper part. Does it scroll smoothly without any hiccups?

My point is simply to see if others experience the same thing, which I assume you do when two iPhone 6's and two iPhone 5S's on iOS 8 seem to produce the same issue.

It's ironic how all of these years Android has been ridiculed or received critique for their scrolling, and now Apple is slowly losing that trademark 60 fps experience thanks to iOS 8. An iPhone 6 or 6 Plus containing state of the art hardware simply shouldn't suffer from this and neither should its predecessor.

I've brought up a similar issue in the iOS 8 forum, but since we're at 8.1.3 I simply wanted to check if others using a 6 have suffered from the same thing.
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appleincognito said:
It's always possible you have the faulty TLC flash in your device that causes lag. I had this in one of my 6's and it caused daily lag and freezes. Swapped it out and got one with MLC and no problems since.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. How often and in what kind of day to day usage did you experience that?
 
Imory said:
Well some people claim to experience some stuttering on the 6 Plus, so you wouldn't be completely alone there. Since we're talking about performance, I do wonder if anyone else shares this issue? I'm not by any means trying to hijack the thread, but thought it seemed relevant.





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That's interesting. How often and in what kind of day to day usage did you experience that?
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Just normal tasks sometimes lagged excessively. If you purchase the phone doctor app it can tell you your flash write speed. If it's greater than 150 then it's probably tlc. Alternatively you can use the free method by downloading iokitbrowser although I haven't had luck with that recently.
 
tonyy said:
My launch day 6 Plus had some lag issues and occasional non responsive screen. Had it replaced by Apple a couple weeks ago and this one is absolutely perfect. No lag, etc.
Click to expand...


Same with me. My launch day 6+ was replaced last week due to screen rotation lags, screen going unresponsive, and general lags. The genius said diagnostics indicated software issue with springboard & dashboard was at fault & that a reset would fix it. I didn't buy it though cuz I've reset my device and the issues continued...and even got worse & more frequent. But made ME tell him I wanted a replacement instead of recommending one.

The replacement seems better. No screen lags. No bouts with an unresponsive screen. It's only been a week though.
 
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