A new report from Asian site TechNews.tw claims information from the Apply supply chain points to the next generation iPad Air doubling up on RAM from 1GB to 2GB. The additional memory would benefit system performance, especially during multitasking, when more memory-intesive tasks like browsing multiple websites in Safari and using other apps requires more RAM to function smoothly.
While most of the parts and component leaks out of the supply chain have centered around the next generation iPhone, which is expected to debut at an Apple event next month, the new report that the next generation iPad Air will double its memory follows a Bloomberg report earlier this month that new iPads with an anti-reflective coating over the display have entered production.
The report out of Taiwan goes on to claim the next generation iPad mini with Retina display will not receive the memory increase like its larger counterpart; the current generation iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display, however, share the same internal specifications aside from the display size difference including 1GB of RAM each.
The larger and smaller iPads were differentiated by specs, though, when the iPad 4 and first generation iPad mini were the latest Apple tablets on the market, and it wouldn’t be surprising to pack more resources again into the larger, more expensive tablet to manage costs.
The additional memory could also be a system require to use the expected split-screen apps feature 9to5Mac originally reported earlier this year. You can see the feature in action here. From that report in May:
The feature is said to be designed with the 9.7-inch iPad display in mind, and it is unclear if the feature will work on the smaller-screened iPad mini. The feature is said to work exclusively in landscape mode.
The next generation iPad Air is expected to sport the same design as the model model, a more efficient and powerful A8 processor, and feature the Touch ID fingerprint sensor introduced in 2013 with the iPhone 5s.
In addition to the next generation iPad Air RAM claim, the same Taiwanese report says the rumored iWatch/iBand will sport 512MB of RAM and feature 8GB of local storage, although much less information was included in this area. While Re/code reported earlier this year that Apple is expected to introduce its wearable product in October, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo issued a new report yesterday that claims supply issues could push back the roll out into next year.
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It’s about time.
I’d love if they enabled swapping in iOS 8, mainly for older devices… Can’t really keep more than 3 tabs in safari on iPhone 5s… some additional virtual memory would do them good.
3?? I almost constantly have 10-20 tabs open, with no problem. Heavy sites you’re visiting.
More than I hope an iWatch comes out in October because I want one, I hope that Ming-Chi Kuo is dead wrong, simply because I want him to be laughed at for highly inaccurate analysis.
Let’s hope this pans out across the entire product line. iPad definitely would benefit, but so would iPhone.
No, iPhone would probably not benefit. The extra power consumption would not be good for iPhone, as it has no battery life to spare (unlike iPad). Also, there are handful of iPad apps that are much different than there iPhone counterparts, like Safari, that have shown their desperation for more memory.
Well, first of all the next iPhones’ larger batteries (especially the 6L’s) would make up for additional power requirements while keeping battery life solid. Second, double the RAM would allow for smoother multitasking between apps. Third, Safari also shows that desperation for more memory on iPhone as it constantly reloads open tabs due to the currently limited memory. Plus, it would future proof it for iOS 9 and whatever comes next to limit the amount of people who have poorer experiences with older hardware. Those are the reasons I personally believe that the iPhone should have 2GB of RAM. Granted, it doesn’t “need” it with iOS 8 seemingly using fewer resources, but it would be nice.
That is a slick picture up there
How about selling official RAM modules for iMacs? My mac is SUPER slow!
Yeah you probably need 64GB of RAM
I was just thinking of getting MORE not 64 GB… That would be expensive…
But I do use that mac for development…
I’m sure this was a joke, but NO-ONE “needs” 64GB of RAM on a Mac. there isn’t a single Mac app that can access more than 4GB of memory including the base OS, so unless you are running multiple versions of iMovie or other graphically/memory intensive programs simultaneously, even 8GB would be overkill.
Even if you use the Mac for “development” you are wasting your money. Development software doesn’t use much memory at all. Take a look at the memory use next time you are running all your software at once, you will find much of it unused.
ONLY if you are a video or photography professional (and that doesn’t include wedding photographers and other semi-pro amateurs), do you need anything higher than 8GB, and even then 16GB would be overkill. 64GB is just ridiculous (therefore my assumption that your comment was a joke).
you do realize you can just gotta put notebook RAM into your iMac, as long as it’s not the slim 21″ version with fixed RAM?
No, it’s a 21.5″ mid-2011 model…
Wrong again Mr. Grey. My 2011 27″ i7 iMac with 16gb of ram will use all but 2-3 gigs (so it’s using 13-14 gigs of ram. That’s more than 8) of ram just using iTunes, Safari, Photoshop and or Illustrator. Mavericks will use 3-4 gigs alone if no other apps are open also. If I could do it over I would have put 32gb in it, but with it’s age and the cost of ram it’s not worth it, not overkill, because it will be replaced soon anyway.
Yes but I use my mac for development and it is running so slow that I can’t be very productive… All I need is a few more gigs of ram…
The OS is just reserving more RAM when possible. I’m still fine with my 4gb iMac running more than 5 apps at once (including pixelmator or xcode). I’m running Yosemite and it isn’t using that much RAM. Remember that there are still a lot of new Macs sold with 4GB of RAM.
I’d say max it out if u plan on keeping it long term