Apple announced the iPhone 5 on Wednesday. The new iPhone contains several improvements including the use of a new A6 processor from Apple. While it's been widely speculated that Apple would boost the RAM in the new iPhone, we haven't seen much in the way of confirmation.
The iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 both contain 512MB of RAM for developers to work with. Running out of RAM can cause some performance issues as existing applications or documents may have to be purged from memory from time to time.
iFans first posted confirmation that the iPhone 5 has 1GB of ram based on the part numbers listed on the A6 chip itself. After some investigation with Kyle Wiens from iFixit, we've been able to confirm their findings as well, using Samsung's own product guides.
The chart above comes from Samsung's 2012 Product Solutions Guide (PDF) which lists part numbers of various memory parts they have for sale. The iPhone 5's A6 part number lines up with the family of 8 Gigabit mobile DRAMs which translates into 1GB of RAM. The A5 part family is also listed and accurately shows 512MB of RAM (4 Gigabit).
Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive.
If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device.
Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors.
Rumors
Faster Wi-Fi Support
The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models.
Latest Rumors
These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
Thursday July 10, 2025 12:38 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple does not plan to refresh any Macs with updated M5 chips in 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are now planned for the first half of 2026.
Gurman previously said that Apple would debut the M5 MacBook Pro models in late 2025, but his newest report suggests that Apple is "considering" pushing them back to 2026. Apple is now said to be...
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report.
Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain.
Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states, Puerto Rico,...
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be available in a total of nine color options, according to new information coming out of Asia.
The iPhone 17 Air's expected color options.
According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean blog Naver, accessory manufacturers are now producing camera protector rings for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air in colors to match their...
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device.
Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable
5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2
Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
Yeah, half the memory and double the performance. I'm sorry, the S3 is NOT a great device. It's clumsy, cheap plastic, loaded with bloat, and isnt as smooth as people claim it is. I sat down with it for a while and was nervous that it might make me second guess getting the iPhone 5. Well, im happy to say it had exactly the opposite effect. It's got a lot of bells and whistles, most of them useless in real world use (although it did have a few cool things), and that's about it. IMO iPhone blows it away. And the build quality doesn't even compare a little bit. Keep ur S3. And I'll gladly keep my iPhone.
The iPhone 5 is only the iPhone 4S with a bigger screen and better specs...
You could essentially say the exact same thing about any two generations of any smartphone on Earth! The Samsung GS3 is only the Samsung GS2 with a bigger screen and better specs! The Nokia Lumia 920 is only the Nokia Lumia 800 with a bigger screen and better specs.
In fact, you can make essentially the same statement about any two generations of any product at all! The new Macbook Air is only the old Macbook air with better tech specs. The new Aston Martin is only the old Aston Martin with a slightly new design and better engine. The new Moleskin Notebook is only the old Moleskin Notebook with a new cover design and nicer paper!
What did people expect?! What did they want?! I mean, for all the griping didn't Apple just launch an absolutely state of the art smartphone? Doesn't it carry the very latest tech in LTE chips, ARM processors, manufacturing techniques, touch screen technology, image processing? Isn't likely the fastest smartphones going while still being among the thinnest and lightest handsets on the market?
There are, as far as I can see, only two things NOT included in this new iPhone which anyone could reasonably complain about: wireless charging and NFC. The first is a gimmick - it's slow, inconvenient, expensive and adds little to no value over and above standard charging methods. NFC is a more complex question - there are clearly potential uses for NFC but none are yet compelling to me and Apple made a judgement call about the design compromises they would have to make in order to incorporate NFC and decided it wasn't worth it. That's a legitimate decision although clearly others think differently. Of course, both NFC and wireless charging can easily be added through the use of a third party case - so those options remain for people who really desire that functionality.
I see the new iPhone is a fantastic achievement. The 4S remains one of the best phones on the market in terms of technical specifications and, for me, the best phone going for overall design, ease of use, ecosystem etc. I still look at my 4S, which has a design that's over two years old, and find it to be a thing of beauty - classically stylish and made of exceptionally high quality materials. Obviously this is a matter of taste but I'd wager good money that, in a few decades' time, the 4/4S will be the subject of study for industrial design students all over the world while few other smartphones will warrant any consideration. Nokia's Lumia range is lovely in many ways but it might date more quickly because of its more pop-like sensibilities. The Galaxy range from Samsung won't last the test of time - they're nice to look at but lack substance visually. I picked up a Sony Experia handset yesterday and was surprised by how cheap and tacky it felt. I know there are some nicely built handsets out there, don't get me wrong, but I genuinely haven't seen one that comes close to the 4/4S, and that's after more than two years!
The iPhone 5 is, by all accounts, a very nice feeling handset - I can't comment directly until I've held one in my hand. Only time will tell if it becomes a design classic like the 4/4S but all the signs are good so far.
They've stuck closely to the design philosophy of the prior generation and created a handset which goes even further in terms of minimalism - peeling away the facade to reveal the industrial design, the function of the device. The unibody case is simpler than the glass and stainless steel of the prior generation. The slate/black and silver/white combinations are even more stylistically pure as the metal and the glass are matched more closely for the cleanest fit (the white one looks stunning but I intend to stick with black as it's less showy). The brushed, matt finish of the flat faces compared to the high shine of the chamfers creates a striking but subtle impact - a tiny detail that turns a potentially homogenous, even boring shape into something really eye catching (as always, it's the little things that count). All the busyness is now concentrated on the bottom edge of the handset leaving an even cleaner finish around the other three edges but the tidy design of the smaller port and bold, circular speaker holes stop things feeling cluttered.
The iPhone 5 is a phone built for people who love great design. Sure, I like a phone that goes like stink! I love high end technology as much as the next geek, but I also love great design. In fact, I love great design more. That's why I wouldn't buy a Samsung - they're nice but the niceness is immediate and fleeting - lemonade vs the aged single malt of truly great design. Instantly pleasing but just as instantly forgettable, pop vs classic rock. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but it isn't appealing to me. If you want something like an iPhone you really only have one option: an iPhone.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
Apple announced the iPhone 5 on Wednesday. The new iPhone contains several improvements including the use of a new A6 processor from Apple. While it's been widely speculated that Apple would boost the RAM in the new iPhone, we haven't seen much in the way of confirmation. 
