While it seems most iOS 5 features will work just fine on the iPhone 3GS, the proof is in the pudding. Here's a video from AppleRumors.it (translated), an aptly named Italian Apple blog.

They do a side-by-side comparison between the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4 and it gives a good sense of the speed differences between the two.


It seems 3GS owners (including myself) have nothing to fear from iOS5.

Related Forum: iPhone

Top Rated Comments

grantrobarts Avatar
163 months ago
Is that a soundtrack from Age of Empires III or something?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
colmaclean Avatar
163 months ago
Good to know and thank crud there's a mute button for that soundtrack!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DerfBWH Avatar
163 months ago
Just for the sake of being 100% sure I first rebooted my phone - twice - and found that it was no faster than before I rebooted. I then Restored my phone using the iOS 5 Beta image again and still found the same annoying slowness.
Unless my 3GS is somehow slower than other 3GS's, iOS 5 does have an adverse effect on a 3GS's speed, at least at this early beta stage. I'd chalk this video up to being a poor demo.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
hayhay Avatar
163 months ago
You suck at side by side comparisons...at least tap the items at the same time...or swipe at the same time...it's not an accurate comparison when you can't do it in unison.
Score: 0 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KayOhDiWhy Avatar
163 months ago
Aside from the looped ungodly soundtrack, their inability to do the same operations on two devices at once, and second-class imitation of Apple's pan-over-device-zoomed-in, I love the look of iOS 5. As a 3GS owner, I'm happy to know performance is zippy and in some cases (at least with this release) mine outperforms an iPhone 4. -jaw falls to the floor-

Though I can't say I'm thrilled for the final release. If iOS 5 follows iOS 4's release pattern, 4.0 beta was incredible, and by 4.0 beta 3 or 4 sending a text was a daunting task, let alone boot up. Hopefully Apple focuses on legacy performance a little more, even though it's technically a goal of theirs to encourage upgrades.
Score: 0 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hellhammer Avatar
163 months ago
Well, none of the iOS 5's features is exactly CPU, GPU or RAM intensive, so if iOS 5 ran poorly in 3GS, it would have been another of those Apple's moves to force people to upgrade. Besides, 3GS's and iP4's hardware is almost identical, 4 has twice the RAM and couple hundred MHz faster CPU, that is all.
Score: -1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 17

iOS 17.2 Will Add These 12 New Features to Your iPhone

Friday December 1, 2023 12:19 pm PST by
iOS 17.2 has been in beta testing for over a month, and it should be released to all users in a few more weeks. The software update includes many new features and changes for iPhones, including the dozen that we have highlighted below. iOS 17.2 is expected to be released to the public in mid-December. To learn about even more features coming in the update, check out our full list. Journal ...
anker new xmas 1

Anker's Cyber Week Sale Enters Final Days With Up to 60% Off Sitewide

Friday December 1, 2023 12:05 pm PST by
Anker's Black Friday/Cyber Week event is entering its final days this weekend, and it's still offering up to 60 percent off sitewide. There are also a few "mystery boxes" that can include hundreds of dollars in savings, if you're willing to risk not knowing what you're buying ahead of time. All of these sales will end on December 3. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Anker. When you...
General Apps Messages

Green Bubbles on iPhone to Gain These 7 New Features Next Year

Thursday November 30, 2023 9:00 am PST by
Earlier this month, Apple announced that it will finally support RCS in the Messages app on the iPhone starting later next year. This change will result in several improvements to the messaging experience between iPhones and Android devices. RCS will become the new default standard for messaging between iPhones and Android devices, but these conversations will still have green bubbles like...
top stories 2dec2023

Top Stories: iOS 17.1.2 Released, NameDrop Misinformation, and More

Saturday December 2, 2023 6:00 am PST by
Apple employees are back to work following a Thanksgiving break, and that means this week saw a number of new operating system updates for both public release and beta testing. This week also saw some misinformation about Apple's new NameDrop feature making the rounds, while Apple and Goldman Sachs appear to be on the verge of a break-up in their Apple Card and savings account partnership,...
instagram messenger

Instagram and Facebook Messenger Chats to Disconnect This Month

Tuesday December 5, 2023 1:57 am PST by
Meta has revealed plans to end Instagram users' ability to chat with Facebook accounts later this month, rolling back a feature that it introduced over three years ago. In September 2020, Meta (then Facebook) announced it was merging its Facebook Messenger service with Instagram direct messaging, allowing Instagram users to chat with Facebook users and vice versa using the same platform....
iphone 5g mmwave

Apple's Work on 6G Connectivity Already Expanding

Monday December 4, 2023 7:00 am PST by
Apple's work on implementing 6G cellular connectivity on its devices appears to be ramping up, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained that Apple is increasingly turning its attention to 6G, even amid its widely reported difficulties developing a custom 5G cellular modem. In 2021, the first highly specific Apple job...