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iPhone 7 32gb storage write speed 10x slower than 256gb model

Lyfer

Lyfer

Diamond Member
Wasn't surprised when I saw this video as how this is the norm with PC SSD's. What I am surprised is that Apple doesn't inform the consumer of this. I wonder how much slower my 128gb iPhone is.

https://youtu.be/qW2-TIbcTIg
 
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Lyfer said:
Wasn't surprised when I saw this videos as how this is the norm with PC SSD's. What I am surprised is that Apple doesn't inform the consumer of this. I wonder how much slower my 128gb iPhone is.
Click to expand...

Really? I bet Apple wouldn't even advertise the storage capacity if they didn't have to. They don't really focus on emphasizing specifications.

As long as the experience is "magical" for consumers, they don't see a great need to inform consumers about every little detail. The exceptions being whatever is named well for marketing like the Taptic Engine, or design elements that look good in a promo video. As long as it's "the best x we've ever made", you don't need to worry about it.

Why do you think Anand and Brian no longer work here? They probably are paid by Apple to sit in a closet somewhere and not do in-depth analysis of iPhones. 😛
(that, or they are in the Apple dungeon, forced to smelt metal for iPhone parts)
 
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Interesting that most of the review sites didn't pickup on this. Did Apple only send 256GB units to reviewers, and not 32GB?

I've long known that one should keep at least a certain percentage of space(25-33%) on a SSD free based on Anand's research in this prior area to minimize performance degradation.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6489/playing-with-op

In the case of the 32GB iPhone, this translate to around having a mandatory free space of around 8-11GB to minimize performance degradation.
On a 32GB iPhone, how much space is actually free on the device after the OS/System?

And does this issue also affect phones with UFS similarly? And if so, to what extent?
 
This was already reported over a week ago by others, and at that time just about everyone with a clue already pointed out that it is no surprise when small capacity SSDs are much slower than larger capacity ones.
 
Eug said:
This was already reported over a week ago by others, and at that time just about everyone with a clue already pointed out that it is no surprise when small capacity SSDs are much slower than larger capacity ones.
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This is not always the case. I have lots of small capacity desktop SSD's from both Intel and Samsung and they were not 8-10x slower than their larger capacity ones.
Do you have proof that Apple is using the same type of NAND from the same manufacturer for each SKU?
How do we know that Apple is not using cheap TLC NAND on the 32GB and MLC on their 128GB/256GB versions to preserve their profit margins? If so, it's entirely possible that could be what accounts for the majority of the difference seen here and not just the capacity size.

The blanket statement that "small capacity SSDs are much slower than larger capacity ones" is false.
 
Has anyone cracked open an iphone 7 32 and 128? The chip markings should reveal more than these tests.
 
Crono said:
http://www.gsmarena.com/the_32gb_ip..._slower_storage_our_tests_show-blog-20943.php
Click to expand...


Code: 
Storage test Apple iPhone 6s Plus 64GB Apple iPhone 7 128GB Apple iPhone 7 Plus 32GB
Basemark OS II Memory 1422 1721 839
PassMark Disk Mark 54557 69616 43668
PassMark Storage Write 200.6 Mbyte/s 308 Mbyte/s 39.6 Mbyte/s
PassMark Storage Read 628 Mbyte/s 926 Mbyte/s 691 Mbyte/s
5min 4K video copy 1:00min 0:17min 0:52min



At least the read on the 32GB is still faster than any other size on any other phone
 
Oyeve said:
Has anyone cracked open an iphone 7 32 and 128? The chip markings should reveal more than these tests.
Click to expand...
That is exactly what I'm looking for as well.

Is this a TLC vs MLC NAND issue?
Is this a manufacturer(ex: cheap Kingston or no name brand) vs manufacturer(Samsung/SanDisk/Intel) issue?
Is this a yyy(ex: SandForce) vs xxx issue?
Is this a yyy(ex: JMicron controller) vs xxx controller issue?
Is this a combination of one or more of these issues above?

it's entirely possible that these things could be what accounts for the majority of the difference seen here and not the capacity size.

Sandforce...JMicron...I haven't heard of those names for a long while so just throwing random things in there.
 
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Eug said:
There was no previous iPhone of the same size at launch.
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Yup.
iPhone 6S only came in 16GB base, 64GB, and 128GB. It was only this year that Apple made 32GB base as the standard, so a direct comparison cannot be made.
It certainly would be interesting though to see how fast the 16GB storage of the iPhone 6S is compared to the 32GB version in the iPhone 7 though. I wonder if it's 8-10x slower than the 32GB version in the iPhone 7, which is already 8-10x slower than it's 128GB/256GB iPhone 7 counterparts.
 
lothar said:
That is exactly what I'm looking for as well.

Is this a TLC vs MLC NAND issue?
Is this a manufacturer(ex: cheap Kingston or no name brand) vs manufacturer(Samsung/SanDisk/Intel) issue?
Is this a yyy(ex: SandForce) vs xxx issue?
Is this a yyy(ex: JMicron controller) vs xxx controller issue?
Is this a combination of one or more of these issues above?

it's entirely possible that these things could be what accounts for the majority of the difference seen here and not the capacity size.

Sandforce...JMicron...I haven't heard of those names for a long while so just throwing random things in there.
Click to expand...

Just the nature of how flash memory works, as you basically need to have a controller with more connections in order to support larger storage sizes, which aids speed.

I would guess Apple either has their own controller or a heavily tailored one. At this point wouldn't they be integrating the controller into the SoC?
 
darkswordsman17 said:
Just the nature of how flash memory works, as you basically need to have a controller with more connections in order to support larger storage sizes, which aids speed.

I would guess Apple either has their own controller or a heavily tailored one. At this point wouldn't they be integrating the controller into the SoC?
Click to expand...
With the 6s they put in their own controller.
 
yah shopping for SD cards for my camera from Sandisk, only the higher capacity ones had the fastest transfer speeds. must be the nature of flash memory
 
PixelSquish said:
yah shopping for SD cards for my camera from Sandisk, only the higher capacity ones had the fastest transfer speeds. must be the nature of flash memory
Click to expand...

Sounds like a deliberate choice by Apple not just due to the smaller size based on other manufacturers 32gb phones.

From Forbes:

https://www.google.com/amp/www.forb...iphone-7-slow-32gb-storage/amp/?client=safari

And yet this isn’t a full defence, in fact it’s rather disingenuous. To use this argument ignores the fact that 42.4MB/s is not remotely near the limits of what 32GB solid state storage can achieve. Need an example? The 32GB Galaxy S7 Edge is benchmarked at 150MB/s while I benchmarked Google’s new 32GB Pixel XL which achieved a mouthwatering 301MB/s
 
Radeon962 said:
Sounds like a deliberate choice by Apple not just due to the smaller size based on other manufacturers 32gb phones.

From Forbes:

https://www.google.com/amp/www.forb...iphone-7-slow-32gb-storage/amp/?client=safari

And yet this isn’t a full defence, in fact it’s rather disingenuous. To use this argument ignores the fact that 42.4MB/s is not remotely near the limits of what 32GB solid state storage can achieve. Need an example? The 32GB Galaxy S7 Edge is benchmarked at 150MB/s while I benchmarked Google’s new 32GB Pixel XL which achieved a mouthwatering 301MB/s
Click to expand...

I just benchmarked my S7E out of curiosity and I got 350MB/s read on internal memory.
 
dainthomas said:
I just benchmarked my S7E out of curiosity and I got 350MB/s read on internal memory.
Click to expand...

You would think that Apple would have had all these things ironed out after using the same design for 3 years.

So I should stay away from the 32 GB model and make sure it is the Qualcomm version and not a first run to avoid the hissing?

I think I'll just stick with my 6s Plus and wait for the iPhone 8 Plus.

Study Shows Huge LTE Performance DifferencesBetween Intel And Qualcomm Versions Of iPhone 7

https://www.google.com/amp/www.forb...intel-modem-apple-iphone-7/amp/?client=safari
 
Radeon962 said:
You would think that Apple would have had all these things ironed out after using the same design for 3 years.

So I should stay away from the 32 GB model and make sure it is the Qualcomm version and not a first run to avoid the hissing?

I think I'll just stick with my 6s Plus and wait for the iPhone 8 Plus.
Click to expand...
What's this "hissing" thing that you're on about?
 
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