“The latest rumor from Mark Gurman’s Deep Throat over at 9to5Mac claims Apple will focus on performance and stability rather than features in iOS 9 – and that its new mobile OS will be 64-bit only,” Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld.
“It makes sense for Apple to decelerate the pace of regular feature introductions and take the time to optimize and improve the many it already has,” Evans writes. “It is interesting (and informative) to reflect that the last time it chose to decelerate feature improvements was when it launched OS X Snow Leopard in 2009, which introduced a range of under-the-hood improvements, the biggest being 64-bit support.”
“Apple introduced 64-bit support in iPhone 5S with iOS 7 back in 2013. Almost everyone is still catching Apple up on this, Android has only recently generated 64-bit support and most other platform users will likely celebrate at least one more birthday before 64-bit apps get commonplace.,” Evans writes. “Fast-forward to today and 64-bit has become one of Apple’s many unique platform advantages, 64-bit apps are no longer a rarity on iOS. Soon they will be universal. As of January 15 all iOS apps submitted to the App Store must include 64-bit support and be built with the iOS 8 SDK.”
Read more in the full article here.
This rumor comes at an interesting time. One where we’ve seen 8.1, 8.2 beta, 8.3 beta and rumors of 8.4 all with new major features.
It seems to me like Apple may be moving to a model where X. represents core changes and improvements across the board once a year, and .x represents major feature additions spread throughout the year.
And I welcome that!
I would hope iOS just continues to be the OS for when you are on the move and OS X for when you are at your desk. I would like the OS’s for each environment to be optimized for their environment. That said, it is okay if the human interfaces for the OS’s takes element from each other to minimize the learning curve.
I don’t buy the 64 bit-only thing just yet. Apple is still selling 5Cs new right now (and will continue until the next flagship is introduced this fall. That means someone who buys a new 5C in September will not get an OS update in October.
I also don’t think maintaining a universal install for the next couple years will really hurt things either. Apple is pretty good at optimizing things when they set their mind to it.
“I don’t buy the 64 bit-only thing just yet.”
I agree. This is what I expect Apple may do for the next couple of years;
2015 – iOS 9 (Drops support for devices with A5 / A5X procesor)
2016 – iOS 10 (64-bit only)
Next year we would all hope that the 32-bit 5C is replaced in Apple’s lineup and that a new generation of iPod Touches is revealed.
If these happen, there’ll be no further reason for Apple to offer 32 bit apps or 30-pin cables. Actually, with as much money as Apple has, it’s surprising it took this long.