Apple’s upcoming S-refresh to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus apparently includes two gigabytes of random-access memory (RAM), a feature long expected by Apple fans who have been eyeing top-end Android handsets with 3GB of RAM with envy. More RAM = better multitasking = longer battery life.
Furthermore, the phone ship with the Apple SIM which debuted alongside the iPad Air 2, as reported by AppleInsider quoting “a person familiar with Apple’s future product plans” who in the past has provided “reliable info.”
Though not very reliable in scooping exclusives, AppleInsider states that although bundling the Apple SIM with the next iPhone would almost certainly face resistance from carriers, things have changed now due to booming iPhone sales.
“What has changed is Apple’s position in the market,” reads the article. “The iPhone is now the most popular consumer product since the microwave, making it impossible for carriers to ignore.”
Speaking of RAM, by the time the iPhone 6s gets announced and released (presumably this fall), it will have been three years since Apple gave iPhones 1 GB of RAM with the iPhone 5’s 2012 debut.
A RAM upgrade for the upcoming iPhones is almost certainly in tow.
For starters, Apple increased screen resolutions on the latest devices which puts an additional strain on the RAM as more detailed graphics assets increase in size.
And with the A7 processor debut inside the iPhone 5s back in September 2013, Apple brought 64-bit computing to mobile. But there’s one unintended consequence of the 64-bit roadmap: iOS now has to load 32-bit versions of system frameworks whenever a user loads an app which hasn’t yet been optimized for 64 bits.
As the operating system and all its stock apps are 64-bit, this means that the same 1GB of RAM now must accommodate both 32 and 64-bit libraries. This leaves less RAM for multitasking while increasing power consumption and reducing the overall stability of the runtime environment.
Seeing the benefits of twice the RAM on the iPad Air 2 which exhibits really smooth multitasking and can leave tabs in Safari open for longer without a need to reload or refresh, you’d be cutting it very thin to argue that Apple could maybe get away without updating the RAM for another year.
AppleInsider and Taiwanese media previously reported that the iPhone 6s will include Force Touch, a technology from the Apple Watch which can distinguish between a light tap and a press.
If true, then the phone should switch from LCD screen technology to flexible OLED panels because Force Touch requires a flexible display to sense presses.
iPhone 6c concept above courtesy of 3DFuture.net.
Source: AppleInsider