iPadOS 15 raises the RAM consumption limit for apps
Until now, Apple has always had a limit on how much RAM an iPadOS app is allowed to use, in order to keep its iPads running smoothly.
If for any reason an app were to demand all the RAM available on the tablet, this would badly affect general performance, and to avoid that, Apple had originally installed a memory cap at just 5GB, in order to ensure that there is enough left to keep the tablet running at top speed.
However, more and more professionals (especially creative professionals) have been using Apple's increasingly powerful tablets for work purposes, using demanding programs that require more than Apple's maximum 5GB allotted RAM in order to function optimally. This applies especially to graphic design-related apps, including 3D modeling and video or photo editing.
Because of this, Apple has decided to permanently raise the cap with iPadOS 15, which is launching on September 20. As reported by MacRumors, developers will soon have the ability to program their apps to request additional RAM to allow iPad users to make the most out of even very demanding apps (although the extra RAM isn't unlimited, either). The limit on this new memory cap varies for iPads with different amounts of RAM.
A group of graphic design app developers originally discovered that on the M1 iPad Pro that has 16GB of RAM, apps are now being allowed to request up to a maximum of 12GB RAM, leaving the remaining 4GB for core system functions.
The iPad Pro models powered by the M1 chip which have less memory available (namely 8GB), Apple is letting apps request up to 6GB in iPadOS 15. The remaining 2GB are held back to keep all the necessary core processes up and running, and in no event will apps be allowed to eat into that last buffer (or the remaining 4GB on the 16GB iPad Pro version).
According to Apple, all "supported devices" will be able to take advantage of this new memory usage update, although that's still rather vague—at least we can be sure that it will make its way to the newest M1-powered iPad Pros with iPadOS 15.
The newly released iPad mini 6 and 9th-gen entry-level iPad are unlikely to enjoy a raise of their original RAM buffer, as they hardly have much RAM to begin with (4GB for the mini, and just 3GB for the 9th-gen iPad).
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