Apple is separating the new smartphones into its usual low-cost versus high-cost categories, with big differences between the two models coming down to the camera, display, and battery life.
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Benchmark Suggests iPhone 7 Plus Has 3GB RAM
Based on what seems to be a legitimate Geekbench benchmark of the iPhone 7 Plus, it appears Apple's larger-screened smartphone features 3GB RAM, as was rumored. In the list of details about the device, memory is listed as 2998MB, meaning it has 3GB RAM instead of 2GB RAM like the iPhone 6s Plus.
Prior to the announcement of the iPhone 7 Plus, rumors suggested it would have 3GB RAM because of the increased resource demands of the dual-camera system. The iPhone 7 features two 12-megapixel cameras, one that's the same as the wide-angle camera on the iPhone 7 and one telephoto camera.
iPhone 7 Plus benchmark
When capturing a photo, images from both cameras are merged together via software so users can zoom in further, which is likely a system intensive process. Apple is also developing a depth-of-field effect that uses software and advanced machine learning techniques to highlight a person in a photograph while blurring the background, another process that's likely to require additional RAM.
Rumors suggest the smaller 4.7-inch iPhone 7 continues to feature 2GB RAM, and an iPhone 7 benchmark from earlier this week offers potential confirmation.
iPhone 7 benchmark
The processor data on the iPhone 7 benchmark was off, which initially called into question its legitimacy, but Geekbench doesn't yet accommodate the lower-power high-efficiency scores of the A10 Fusion chip, and Geekbench's John Poole believes it's possible there was a problem when calculating processor speed. If representative of an actual iPhone 7 device, the benchmark indicates 2GB RAM.
While the iPhone 7 also features an upgraded camera system, it does not require software processes for merging multiple images together, so higher amounts of RAM may not be necessary for optimal performance.
We won't have concrete confirmation on the amount of RAM in the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus until launch day, when multiple sites are likely to begin teardowns to see just what's inside.
Prior to the announcement of the iPhone 7 Plus, rumors suggested it would have 3GB RAM because of the increased resource demands of the dual-camera system. The iPhone 7 features two 12-megapixel cameras, one that's the same as the wide-angle camera on the iPhone 7 and one telephoto camera.
When capturing a photo, images from both cameras are merged together via software so users can zoom in further, which is likely a system intensive process. Apple is also developing a depth-of-field effect that uses software and advanced machine learning techniques to highlight a person in a photograph while blurring the background, another process that's likely to require additional RAM.
Rumors suggest the smaller 4.7-inch iPhone 7 continues to feature 2GB RAM, and an iPhone 7 benchmark from earlier this week offers potential confirmation.
The processor data on the iPhone 7 benchmark was off, which initially called into question its legitimacy, but Geekbench doesn't yet accommodate the lower-power high-efficiency scores of the A10 Fusion chip, and Geekbench's John Poole believes it's possible there was a problem when calculating processor speed. If representative of an actual iPhone 7 device, the benchmark indicates 2GB RAM.
While the iPhone 7 also features an upgraded camera system, it does not require software processes for merging multiple images together, so higher amounts of RAM may not be necessary for optimal performance.
We won't have concrete confirmation on the amount of RAM in the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus until launch day, when multiple sites are likely to begin teardowns to see just what's inside.
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41 months ago
3GB RAM is nothing to get excited about. Androids are soon moving from 6GB to 8GB.
Don't give me the bullcrap that ohh iOS is teh mozt optimizzzed OS.
Sorry, but it's true: Android is very inefficient--and the extra RAM it needs burns battery too. Both Java and the way Android apps are handled in the background are problems. And search for "garbage collection."
For reference:
https://www.quora.com/Why-does-the-iPhone-need-so-much-less-RAM-than-Android-devices
http://www.cultofmac.com/303223/ios-twice-memory-efficient-android-heres/
41 months ago
3GB RAM is nothing to get excited about. Androids are soon moving from 6GB to 8GB.
Don't give me the bullcrap that ohh iOS is teh mozt optimizzzed OS.
It's not bullcrap when it's absolutely true. Have you seen the real world speed tests? iPhone 6S blows Androids with twice the RAM completely out of the water. Optimization isn't some myth.
41 months ago
3GB RAM is nothing to get excited about. Androids are soon moving from 6GB to 8GB.
Don't give me the bullcrap that ohh iOS is teh mozt optimizzzed OS.
I believe they have still tried to be a miser and given just 3 instead of 4.
Reminds me of budget Androids with 750 MB or 1.5 GB odd figured RAM sizes.
I wasn't aware this was a who has the biggest you-know-what contest.
41 months ago
I wasn't aware this was a who has the biggest you-know-what contest.
"Yeah, well my Android phone has twice the RAM your iPhone does! And it's still more laggy!"
Funny how way back when, Android fans used to boast about the benchmarks. Now after Apple's in-house designs are thoroughly spanking the unoptimised Android OS and generic Snapdragon CPUs, both in real-world performance and in benchmarks, they boast about the number of cores and the amount of RAM.
Throwing more and more specs at an OS to try and get it running at a comparative level to iOS is ultimately self-defeating. It doesn't address the underlying issue. It doesn't fix anything. It's desperate and it's short-sighted.
Apple have been playing the long game since the iPhone 4 – and bugger me, it's paying off.
41 months ago
3GB RAM is nothing to get excited about. Androids are soon moving from 6GB to 8GB.
Don't give me the bullcrap that ohh iOS is teh mozt optimizzzed OS.
I believe they have still tried to be a miser and given just 3 instead of 4.
Reminds me of budget Androids with 750 MB or 1.5 GB odd figured RAM sizes.
It's true though. iOS does use RAM better than Android. I have no problem using iOS devices with 2GB or even 1GB of RAM. Android devices with those amounts struggle noticibly running the same apps. Well, at least 2GB devices do. I've never even tried an Android device with just 1.
So yes, Apple could be less cheap and give 4GB for the handful of iPhone users who care or even know how much RAM is in their phone, but it probably won't make a difference to most people.
41 months ago
3GB RAM is nothing to get excited about. Androids are soon moving from 6GB to 8GB.
Don't give me the bullcrap that ohh iOS is teh mozt optimizzzed OS.
I believe they have still tried to be a miser and given just 3 instead of 4.
Reminds me of budget Androids with 750 MB or 1.5 GB odd figured RAM sizes.
I'll echo everyone else. It is more optimized and can do a lot more with 2gigs than android because of ram management. Android needs more ram. Not bullcrap at all.
41 months ago
A little historical perspective for how far we've come here: That single core number is double the score of a 2007 3Ghz/x5365 Mac Pro ('https://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/8032660').
The MP, unsurprisingly, still wins on multicore, and by the same factor. But it also has eight cores and probably idles at 150w...
The MP, unsurprisingly, still wins on multicore, and by the same factor. But it also has eight cores and probably idles at 150w...
41 months ago
It's too bad most iPhone-only users are not informed of how different mobile operating systems work. iOS have gotten away with less DRAM because it has done less especially in regards to foreground task switching vs multitasking and not doing background multitasking. People who use both iOS and Android clearly understand the differences.
Precisely. Android's multitasking design is a huge part of its problems, for RAM, battery, AND security. Meanwhile, iOS multitasks in a modern efficient way, and we reap the benefits.
41 months ago
It would cost Apple less than $2 to put 4GB in every device. Apple hardware design is nearly always compromised in some stupid way by beancounters.
Oh give over, will you. If the roles were reversed, you'd be boasting about Android's delicious optimisation, and how these ludicrously designed chips can run an OS on butter with less than half the specs.
Yet as it happens: Android is a bloated, sobbing, nappy-wearing man-child of an operating system, getting spoonfed RAM and cores by the tubful, as its mother prays it will finally grow up and get a job. Instead it just soils itself and asks for more.
Apple's achievements in the A-series CPU field is nothing short of astounding.
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