4 ms·
Apple's iPhone support cycle is such that there are significant downsides to getting a device from an older generation. For example: The iPhone 4S was released
by daxelrod 12y ago
Apple's iPhone support cycle is such that there are significant downsides to getting a device from an older generation.
For example: The iPhone 4S was released in October 2011. In October 2013, Apple released iOS 7. While iOS 7 supports the 4S, it increases RAM overhead to the point that switching from app A to app B kills app A the vast majority of the time. (This is terribly annoying when you're writing, you switch to a web browser to look something up, and when you switch back the thing you were writing disappears.)
The user adoption rate of new OSes is ridiculously high. This means you will have maybe 3-6 months after the new OS comes out before apps no longer support the old one.
- wingerlang 12y agoReally? iPhone 4S can't handle iOS7? I'm using an iPhone 4 on iOS7 without any problems whatsoever, and I'm a heavy user+developer.
- frogpelt 12y ago32GB model? The 8GB really bogs down and the 16GB has noticeable lag.
- hrabago 12y agoAren't the differences only in storage?
- tsm 12y agoPresumably that also affects the amount of swap space available.
- pshc 12y agoiOS doesn't swap like traditional OSes, although it does persist a small cache of metadata about running app instances. The file system is not particularly fast, though, so I could see low space conditions (that might trigger reclamation or defragmentation) slowing things down in general.
- wingerlang 12y agoYes, 32GB. Although I don't know why it would make a huge difference (not saying it wouldn't).
- serve_yay 12y agoI use a 4S with iOS 7. I can't wait to get the new phone, iOS is so slow now on my device. I guess there aren't any problems per se except that I pretty much hate using my phone.
- r00fus 12y agoAnecdotally, my old 4S on iOS7 runs great. I almost can't tell the difference between that and my iPhone5 (well, other than screen size). I know folks using iOS7 on a 16GB iPhone4 with no issues either (it's slower, but quite usable).
- clarky07 12y agoi have a 4s that i got in 2011 that works fine on iOS 8. frankly their support cycle is far better than with any other options. perhaps the year old phone won't last quite as long as the new phone, but it will probably last long enough to want a new phone. the 5s is a great phone and will be supported for at least the next 3+ years