iPhone 6: 1GB of RAM and No Sapphire Screen?
The September 9 date rumored to be reserved for Apple’s big iPhone 6 announcement is fast approaching, and with it come yet more rumors about the latest iOS smartphone to bear Apple’s name. There are a new pair of rumors that may or may not give us some clues about what we’ll see when Apple finally does lift the veil on the iPhone 6.
First, we’ve got a report from GforGames, which purports to have a schematic for the iPhone 6 from Chinese repair site GeekBar (which, in turn, was first posted on Chinese microblogging site Weibo). According to the schematics, the iPhone 6 will only have 1GB of RAM. That’s the same amount of memory found in the iPhone 5s and 5C models, and half as much RAM as in the Samsung Galaxy S5 – a phone that came out earlier this year.
There’s no question that 1GB of RAM is sufficient to make any smartphone run just fine, but considering what’s showing up in the competition, this detail is a bit disappointing for those hoping Apple would take a major step forward with the iPhone 6 – if it’s accurate, that is.
Meanwhile, JP Morgan analyst Rod Hall has proclaimed his doubts that the iPhone 6 will indeed have the long-rumored and nigh-indestructible sapphire display this year, due to the high costs of manufacturing devices with the material. From his analysis, reported by CNET:
“At the end of the day we see two possibilities for the iPhone 6 – either Apple produces a small number of high end devices with sapphire or they produce none. Although we have channel indications that some sapphire devices will be produced, we actually lean toward Apple selling no sapphire phones this year. On sapphire as a feature – we see it as a huge phone seller. The screens are reportedly unscratchable (except by diamond) and virtually indestructible. We believe most people will want sapphire when and if it ever becomes available.”
Some have said that the costs of a device featuring a sapphire display would likely be pretty high – but iPhones have typically carried a premium price anyway. It’s entirely possible that Apple will release a “premium” edition of the iPhone 6 that features the material, just like the company did with the gold iPhone 5s last year. If that happens, don’t be surprised to see the higher priced version of the handset get sold out very quickly.
As to whether or not either of these rumors are true, we’ll just have to wait until September 9 – or whenever Apple actually gets around to making its announcement.