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iPhone 4S rumored to offer 512MB RAM instead of 1GB

Despite early rumors to the contrary, TUAW is reading reports from around the Internet that the new iPhone 4S will use 512MB of RAM memory, not the full 1GB many had hoped for. In terms of specs, this falls right in line with the iPad 2's 512MB of LPDDR2 RAM, per that device's iFixit tear-down.

Reports of the 512MB RAM first surfaced from the developers of Infinity Blade on a Eurogamer.net interview with Chair Entertainment creative director Donald Mustard. Now, AppVV states the same (translated) in a thread linked to by MacRumors.

So what does this mean to you? As a rule, the more memory you have onboard, the greater room any application has to work with for memory-intensive assets like graphics, audio, and video. Apps can run more smoothly, and you run into fewer memory-related crashes.

The iPad 2 has been no slouch in performance, however. Its 512MB has provided superb interaction, and while more memory is often better, it's unlikely the 4S will suffer from not delivering a full GB of RAM.

We will all know for sure soon after iFixit gets its geeky little hands on a unit for a full tear-down, presumably within a few days of this Friday's ship date.



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TUAW is reading reports from around the Internet that the new iPhone 4S will use 512MB of RAM memory, not the full 1GB many had hoped for
 

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claustin

If this is true it just means that's one less requirement Siri has. I'm betting the jailbreak community gets it running on the iP4 shortly after the iP4s release.

October 10 2011 at 8:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mguniverse

RAM is expensive, this makes sense. Half a GB is plenty though, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

October 10 2011 at 8:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
buffyzdead

Who, of the 250 million users of an iOS device, gives a rats ass if an iOS devices had a 1/2MB or 1MB of RAM??

As Steve Jobs would say,
If this is an important buying criteria, for your purchase of a Smartphone,
DON'T BUY AN iPhone 4S.

Buy one of the dozens of Smartphones out there, with 1GB of RAM, or more.

.....next

October 10 2011 at 7:14 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
Eric Bland

No one cares how much RAM it has. Presale numbers show no one cares. Numbers show that no one cares. In other words, no one cares about how much RAM it has. Why? Because iOS runs smooth and buttery without the need for gigs or RAM. No company understands better than Apple that specs don't matter if the user experience sucks. Their numbers prove that. Their sales prove that. Until Google and all other device makers get that through their thick skulls, they'll still be #2. The surge of iOS products proves that people want something perfect from beginning to end. Not just a device with shiny specs. If iOS5 ran choppy with 512GB of RAM, rest assured it'd come with a GB. But iOS5 runs perfect with what it has. So why spend more money on RAm when it's not needed? And people still wonder why Apple has so much money...

October 10 2011 at 6:46 PM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Eric Bland's comment
ben

I was one of the people that preordered the 4S, yet also was hoping for a GB.

Am I disappointed? Yes.

Am I going to cancel my preorder? No. There are too many other things that are more important.

(that said, I was really hoping for tons of ram :(

October 10 2011 at 7:36 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to ben's comment
JR

But why? If you didn't know you'd still have a perfect experience. Thats the point. If you had 1GB you'd wish you had 1.5. Specs have become nothing more than pissing contest, meanwhile all these high spec android phones run like ass. Just don't think about it and the phone will run perfect.

October 10 2011 at 10:13 PM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down
Shannon Doherty

That's what perplexes me so much regarding the experience my friend's GF and her 3G. She says it was slow and froze up a lot, enough that she said it made her want to throw it at a wall. She even bought an Android phone at the behest of my friend. She says she updated her OS too, though it spit out some errors but still installed apparently. She even says her friends who have iPhone 4's also experience slowness. I just don't get that at all. I own an iPhone 4 and have never experienced something so extreme, nor have anyone I know with a 3G. Yes, their 3G experience is slow since it's an old device but nothing where it was this bad, I would think.

October 10 2011 at 11:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
buffyzdead

Who, of the 250 million + users of an iOS device, gives a rats ass if it had 1/2 a MB or 1MB of RAM.

As Steve Jobs would say, If that is your most important buying criteria, DO NOT BUY an iPonoe 4S.
Buy one of the dozens upon dozens, of Smartphones, that have that specification.

....next

October 10 2011 at 6:43 PM Report abuse -2 rate up rate down Reply
Maccles

What it means is there is no reason the iPad2 can't run Siri.

October 10 2011 at 6:39 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Maccles's comment
Raj

F'ing bingo.

Siri is looking to be a huge differentiating factor for iOS. I can't wait to try out Siri.

October 10 2011 at 8:36 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
JR

That true. And we will probably see Siri on the iPad 2 in next 6 months, next big iOS 5.x upgrade.

October 10 2011 at 10:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Hugo

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/oct/05/iphone-4s-developer-thoughts

That article quotes a games developer saying the 4S has 1 GB of RAM.

October 10 2011 at 6:33 PM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
Hugo

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/oct/05/iphone-4s-developer-thoughts

That article quotes a game developer who claims that the 4S has 1 GB of RAM. Which game developer to trust?

October 10 2011 at 6:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Michael Long

So, in that case, when is Siri coming to the iPad 2? If it's the same A5, and the same RAM, then what's the problem?

October 10 2011 at 6:20 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Michael Long's comment
JR

It likely will in a future iOS update. They want the 4S to have some kind of exclusive feature, at least for a short while.

October 10 2011 at 10:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jhpsy

I'm new to iPhone specs discussions. Do any iPhones currently have more than 512MB of RAM memory?

October 10 2011 at 6:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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