Xcode Confirms 2GB of RAM in iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, 4GB of RAM in iPad Pro

[macduke]

Apple doesn't list the specs during their events because this is one area where they consistently underperform. As a huge Apple fan and someone who defends most decisions they make as they are a smart company, I must say that it's sad that pundits on this site often defend their decision to use very low amounts of RAM. Is iOS more efficient than Android? Yeah. Is 1GB of RAM going to outperform 3GB of RAM on Android for common multitasking? No. Those with an iPhone 6 Plus know the struggle. My device can't even rotate to watch a video without crashing about 25-33% of the time. I'm lucky if I can hold two tabs open in Safari. Sometimes simply activating the task switcher and going immediately back to Safari without launching any other app is enough to force a tab reload. Sometimes if I just look at a site the wrong way it will reload. Sometimes just reloading a site causes it to crash and reload again. These are problems that I never encounter on my iPad Air 2 with 2GB of RAM, which is by far my favorite iOS device of all time. Sometimes days later I'll multitask over to an app and it instantly resumes as if I had never left it. Or I'll switch over to a Safari tab I had last opened a week ago and all of the contents are immediately there—including form data I may have filled out.

You guys are going to love the 2GB of RAM benefit on the new 6S. 1GB was my number one problem with my iPhone. Number two is that iOS needs to work out the bugs and iOS 9 seems to be working to address that. Number three is services which are finally getting better. There is still much improvement left for Apple to do but I'm pleased with the progress this year. Hopefully going forward the massive improvements in efficiency with the smaller manufacturing processes will allow Apple to add RAM at more frequent intervals. And efficiently improvements in the software of iOS will continue to allow older devices to perform well with updates. Every two years we should see an increase in RAM. This is the way that it used to be until the iPhone 6 and it showed.

iPhone 128MB
3G 128MB
3GS 256MB
4 512MB
4S 512MB
5 1GB
5S 1GB
6 1GB <— too many years!
6S 2GB

Why brag about a desktop-class 64-bit chip of you can't even take advantage of a primary benefit of 64-bit and use more addressable RAM? Not to mention, as Anandtech pointed out (before he was hired by Apple, mind you) that 64-bit chips typically use 20-30% more addressable memory than 32-but chips for the same processing. So in effect those iPhones had less usable RAM. I've had every iPhone except the 5S so I can't vouch for it, but this might explain why I never had issues with my iPhone 5. Well—that and iOS 6, lol, but even iOS 7 on the 5 wasn't nearly as bad as iOS 8 on my newer 6 Plus.

 

[Altis]

You know, I can't take a computing platform seriously unless it has at least 32GB of dual-ranked registered ECC memory. Everything else is just a toy to me. Because you know, I'm macho that way. When I show off my technical skills I'm sure to talk about the relative benefits of various north and south bridge chips, as well as the newest tantalum-based silicon.

As a professional, I've forgotten more than most people know. And I do know things. Thinking about 1GB of ram makes my ego hurt. My testicles can't even fit in 256 MB. How would I use LTE without them? And the reloads? Let's not talk about that.

I'm telling you, the buzz I get from knowing that my specs are the best is the best kind, because it's so elite that nobody even knows I have a buzz on. Have you seen the shape of the square wave in the newest broadcom chipset? It's exquisite!

You know, it's all fun to act like you're above specs, and that's great, power to you.

But my $1000 iPhone can't hold a few tabs open in Safari without booting them out when I go between them a lot of the time is pathetic. Or when apps reload when you're going between them.

My biggest concern is apps like YouTube that buffer up a video, but then boot all of it out and rebuffer just because I leave the app for 5 seconds. It eats up so much data.

I have 6GB per month of data, and I have had this for 5 years now. I've never come anywhere near that usage until I got my iPhone 6. I've been way over every month since, and I don't think my usage has really changed much.

I just hope that iOS and the apps utilize the memory better.

 

[Sonmi451]

You know, it's all fun to act like you're above specs, and that's great, power to you.

But my $1000 iPhone can't hold a few tabs open in Safari without booting them out when I go between them a lot of the time is pathetic. Or when apps reload when you're going between them.

My biggest concern is apps like YouTube that buffer up a video, but then boot all of it out and rebuffer just because I leave the app for 5 seconds. It eats up so much data.

I have 6GB per month of data, and I have had this for 5 years now. I've never come anywhere near that usage until I got my iPhone 6. I've been way over every month since, and I don't think my usage has really changed much.

I just hope that iOS and the apps utilize the memory better.

But that isn't all because of memory. Some of it is app management to save battery. And you can't really blame Apple for how YouTube is programmed.

 

[ke-iron]

Having used the 6+ all year since launch, I can tell you the problem is only there if you tend to leave ton of apps open (as in don't clean up the multi-tasking list of apps) and have background app refresh running for ALL apps.

Then again its really not a problem though as some apps will crash every once in a while which is almost normal on mobile devices. I wouldn't say the lack of extra 1GB of RAM crippled the 6+ in anyway and for vast majority of consumers, its still optimized to the point where they will not noticed the lack of RAM.

I think Apple should introduce a way for us to select a maximum of 5 apps to always remain open in the background and not be dropped from the RAM. Think of it as pinning something to a board, it's there until you remove it. That way apps I use frequently like safari, and a few other social media apps will never lose its place in the RAM and reset.

 

[nando87]

They're selling it for another year because it's still a very powerful phone. The only downside to the current phones is the RAM. iOS 9 runs very well on them. Only people who like to run many apps at the same time will run into memory problems.

You don't have to use many apps. You just have to use three or four safari tabs. Try this: open a newspaper, worldcarfans and this forum. Start writing your post here, and before ending change tab to the newspaper, enter an article, or change to the worldcarfans tab, and after that come to the post you where writing here again. Then tell me what happens. Do you think that's normal on a very high end device like a 1000EUR smartphone is? If you think so let me tell you that you are setting the bar way too low

 

[macfacts]

I apologize for my ignorance but will the 2gb help safari work a bit better by not reloading pages or is safari programmed to work that way

No one will know until REAL users have bought and used them and user reviews show up. I've never read about safari tabs refreshing problem in main stream media reviews because they sugar coat everything.

 

[nando87]

No one will know until REAL users have bought and used them and user reviews show up. I've never read about safari tabs refreshing problem in main stream media reviews because they sugar coat everything.

We already know it, the iPad 2 has 2gb ram and works much much better than any other iOs device

 

[naeS1Sean]

The 4+4s were nice, the glass covering the back. But the 5+5s have diamond cut edges that reflect in the light when you turn it, really nice design.

Very true. That was good looking. (As I check out my iPhone 5)

 

[naeS1Sean]

The other things in downgrading to the smaller screen is the resolution isn't as good. Watching video on the 5.5 versus the 4.7 is a big difference. I could definitely tell the difference. The 4.7 looked dirty and grainy in comparison to the sharpness of the 5.5. I did this as a side by side in shop using the exact same video playing at the same time when the 6 first came out. It actually shocked me to be honest. I'm not sure if the DPI is better on the plus but I'm guessing it is???

It is. Good guess.

 

[OC40]

There is 64GB at same price of 32GB or how about 128GB at the price of 64GB...

He has been on the 16 GB crusade for days...

 

[naeS1Sean]

Just curious, but what am I not doing with my phone that would make me miss that extra GB of RAM? I'm all for more, better, faster, etc. It just seems like 1GB has been plenty thus far.

It is plenty. The extra RAM will just be a really nice bonus and will make things nicer...to be simple about it.

 

[haruhiko]

Apple doesn't list the specs during their events because this is one area where they consistently underperform. As a huge Apple fan and someone who defends most decisions they make as they are a smart company, I must say that it's sad that pundits on this site often defend their decision to use very low amounts of RAM. Is iOS more efficient than Android? Yeah. Is 1GB of RAM going to outperform 3GB of RAM on Android for common multitasking? No. Those with an iPhone 6 Plus know the struggle. My device can't even rotate to watch a video without crashing about 25-33% of the time. I'm lucky if I can hold two tabs open in Safari. Sometimes simply activating the task switcher and going immediately back to Safari without launching any other app is enough to force a tab reload. Sometimes if I just look at a site the wrong way it will reload. Sometimes just reloading a site causes it to crash and reload again. These are problems that I never encounter on my iPad Air 2 with 2GB of RAM, which is by far my favorite iOS device of all time. Sometimes days later I'll multitask over to an app and it instantly resumes as if I had never left it. Or I'll switch over to a Safari tab I had last opened a week ago and all of the contents are immediately there—including form data I may have filled out.

You guys are going to love the 2GB of RAM benefit on the new 6S. 1GB was my number one problem with my iPhone. Number two is that iOS needs to work out the bugs and iOS 9 seems to be working to address that. Number three is services which are finally getting better. There is still much improvement left for Apple to do but I'm pleased with the progress this year. Hopefully going forward the massive improvements in efficiency with the smaller manufacturing processes will allow Apple to add RAM at more frequent intervals. And efficiently improvements in the software of iOS will continue to allow older devices to perform well with updates. Every two years we should see an increase in RAM. This is the way that it used to be until the iPhone 6 and it showed.

iPhone 128MB
3G 128MB
3GS 256MB
4 512MB
4S 512MB
5 1GB
5S 1GB
6 1GB <— too many years!
6S 2GB

Why brag about a desktop-class 64-bit chip of you can't even take advantage of a primary benefit of 64-bit and use more addressable RAM? Not to mention, as Anandtech pointed out (before he was hired by Apple, mind you) that 64-bit chips typically use 20-30% more addressable memory than 32-but chips for the same processing. So in effect those iPhones had less usable RAM. I've had every iPhone except the 5S so I can't vouch for it, but this might explain why I never had issues with my iPhone 5. Well—that and iOS 6, lol, but even iOS 7 on the 5 wasn't nearly as bad as iOS 8 on my newer 6 Plus.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Thanks.

The limitation of 1GB RAM is even more prominent on the 6 Plus due to the 1080P screen resolution + 3X & shrinking down to 1920 x 1080 process for the retina image assets.

 

[MacKai]

I do feel this this is great news. The 6 Plus was definitely lacking memory.

 

[dgdosen]

Yeth but what about the iPad Mini 4 ?

If you take a look at the XCode 7.1 beta - you can see the simulators in question:

There is no "iPad Mini 4" listed - we wouldn't know if the "iPad Retina" stands for iPad Mini 2 or 4 or something else.

 

[BvizioN]

Why is Apple so secretive about RAM? It makes no sense to me. Everyone finds out anyway; they may as well just list it in the specs.

Firstly it's because their philosophy is 'better specs don't necessarily make the device better' which is true.
And secondly it's because it's a game they can not win. There are devices with more then twice the iPhone specs that cost probably less then a family McDonald's meal but they still suck a big time.

 

[Flusspferd]

Well he might have a Mac and Android, or he might be a disgruntled iPhone customer fed up with Safari and apps reloading. But anyway personal experiences are subjective. Here we have the Nexus 5, which is a year older than the iPhone 6 going toe to toe and opening most of the apps quicker than iPhone 6, which on Benchmarks absolutely destroys the Nexus 5 in every category. Im thinking LG's bloated skin is to blame here since the G2 has identical specs to the Nexus 5.

Fair enough.
Of course user experience is highly subjective. Personally I can't claim much good things about Android devices after several years of usage. It has been annoying for me.
But I don't feel the urge to go to each Android forum and bitch about their devices. If others are satisfied with them. Fine.
And I definitely don't need to tell everyone in a forum how much superior my devices are. I'd be simply happy and focus on more important stuff in my live. But seeing some of the Android trolls here, it seems to be a hobby for some people.

When did they let ignorant rude foreigners in Japan? I use both platforms and call it like it is.

I have no idea, since I don't know any foreigners in Japan.
Hilarious how you use the tiniest personal information (ever thought I'm a native Japanese?) you could gain from my post and try to offend me with that. Typical troll. Unfortunately that doesn't work.

And "Ignorant and rude" huh?
Don't you like your own medicine?

You call nothing like it is. You just bitch about stuff, you don't use obviously.

PS. I bet you trembled for excitement that finally someone answered your little troll post. But don't be too excited I put you now on the ignore list. Live long and prosper.

 

[dampfnudel]

We already know it, the iPad 2 has 2gb ram and works much much better than any other iOs device

Exactly, the iPad Air 2 proves that a 64-bit processor needs extra RAM to make it a "smoother ride" in iOS, especially with a larger display. I know both my iPhone 5s and iPad Air both crash more than my iPhone 4S did before iOS 8 began to cripple it.

 

[MH01]

After memory issues on my 6 plus, this is very welcome news. The 6S plus should be a very good handset.

 

[FuNGi]

I'd love to see 4 GB RAM across the board next year for iOS – iPhone 7/7 Plus, iPad Air 3, iPad Mini 5, iPad Pro 2. Not holding my breath on it but one can dream!

If that's your dream maybe you should hold your breath.

It's just RAM folks. If you want to buy the dang phone then do it.

 

[MH01]

Firstly it's because their philosophy is 'better specs don't necessarily make the device better' which is true.
And secondly it's because it's a game they can not win. There are devices with more then twice the iPhone specs that cost probably less then a family McDonald's meal but they still suck a big time.

Yes and no. The reason I say that, when it suits them they gloat about being number one, and having the most powerful cpu etc, as per the keynote just gone.

My theory is that they quote as little as possible, cause they try to make devices with the lowest specs possible for Highest profit. The iPhone 6 should never have been 1GB, they also will not quote 2GB on the current line up, cause hey will try to run 2GB until it's almost unusable as per the iPhone 6 plus. The competition will have 4-6gb while apple will still be on 2GB.

The philosophy of better specs don't necessary make a better device is a red herring in my book, cause having all my devices with the latest software , my conclusion is that the specs are not up to running the software. My iPhone 4, iPad 3 are not good experiences, I wish i never updated to iOS 8. I believe the philosophy is , upgrade the hardware to match the current OS, if you want a smooth experience. ( bought an iPad Air 2, and running the same version of iOS as my iPad 3, the experience is sooooooo different, the iPad 3 is awful ! While the air 2 is like I would expect an apple device to be) funny thing is that In 12 months my Apple devices always seem slower on a new version of iOS...... Thankfully there is new hardware that is a very smooth experience ....

 

[JustMadeThisNameUp]

Great news for the iPad Pro...

Now, if it could only have better cameras it would be a complete product...

And, I almost forgot at least 256 GB Storage

I was very surprised by the camera specs. Not even just the 8 mega pixels but I bet a thousand doll hairs that it's just the iPhone 6 camera, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was the camera to the iPad Air 2.

 

[vmachiel]

So now my safari tabs won't reload all the time? That's good enough for me

 

[JimmyHook]

Sort of sad then that the base model is effectively useless because Apple gimped it with 16GB storage. And since most users get the 16GB model, they're gonna have a pretty awful experience with this phone.

And before you say "OMG my grandma/wife/etc. uses a 16GB phone with no problems", this is not some budget phone meant for non techies, it's a supposedly "premium" phone with a 4k camera (!) made in the YEAR 2015 FFS.

And this is coming from someone who never had any intention of getting the base model either, but the unimaginative greed has pretty much killed any desire I had for this phone. I wish Apple users would punish them for this by not falling for such an obvious con and refusing to buy the phone, but I guess that what the haters have always said is true, people who have drank the koolaid will really buy anything with an Apple logo on it.

I hope they lower the base to 8 GB just out of spite. Seriously, they offer more. It isn't greed to give options. Have you considered that 32 isn't enough either??? Maybe they want everyone to buy 64 and they know if they offered 32 people would take it against better judgement.

 

[C DM]

I hope they lower the base to 8 GB just out of spite. Seriously, they offer more. It isn't greed to give options. Have you considered that 32 isn't enough either??? Maybe they want everyone to buy 64 and they know if they offered 32 people would take it against better judgement.

If 32 would be against better judgement then why even offer 16?

 

[MacOG728893]

This is the only reason I am even considering upgrading from my 6.