Apple invites developers to submit 64-bit apps for iPhone 5s

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Developers can now submit 64-bit third party applications for iPhone 5s, allowing their software to leverage the power made available with the new A7 processor and iOS 7 operating system.

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Set to release this Friday, the iPhone 5s ships with the A7 CPU as well as a new version of iOS 7 compiled in 64 bits. Apple on Monday issued a note to developers, inviting them to now submit their 64-bit apps ahead of the iPhone 5s launch.

Currently, developers who wish to continue supporting iOS 6 will need to build their apps in 32-bit only. But Apple has promised that next month, changes will be made that will allow developers to support 32-bit on iOS 6 and both 32- and 64-bit on iOS 7 with a single binary.

"Xcode can build your app with both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries included so it works across all devices running iOS 7," Apple said.

When Apple announced the iPhone 5s last week, the company revealed that its custom A7 chip would be the first major 64-bit smartphone processor available on the market. The company has touted the A7 as a "desktop-class" chip with over a billion transistors.

The A7 is also twice as fast in raw processing power and graphics performance, and is a whopping 40 times faster than the chip found in the original iPhone. To take advantage of the 64-bit capabilities of the A7, Apple's iOS 7 mobile operating system has also been updated with a 64-bit kernel, libraries and drivers.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 35
    Fat Binaries FTW!
  • Reply 2 of 35
    developers who wish to continue supporting iOS 6 will need to build their apps in 32-bit only

    Well that's a bit of an oversight.

    Or maybe just overly optimistic. Maybe not.

    Can't be many 3GSs left, can there?

    iOS7 may just be a Leopard-esque -almost superficial- update, but I think those that can, will.
  • Reply 3 of 35
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Why bother, Fandroids say Devs will develop for Android first.
  • Reply 4 of 35
    Great, so after a binary for both ipad and iphone, we are now getting bloated binaries doing 64 bits as well ?

    So much for 16 GB ....
  • Reply 5 of 35
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    I'd say at least 90% of iOS users will be on iOS7 by the end of the year. Not an issue.
  • Reply 6 of 35
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Slurpy View Post



    I'd say at least 90% of iOS users will be on iOS7 by the end of the year. Not an issue.

    My feelings exactly

  • Reply 7 of 35

    But, the next line says that it will change next month.  It doesn't sound like performance of 32 bit apps will be any worse than they are now, so Apple isn't in a rush.  The 64bit performance boost will probably be more noticeable in future iPhones, when there's 4 GB of RAM in it.  They're probably a few years ahead of the curve, rather than a month behind on the product launch.

  • Reply 8 of 35
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Slurpy View Post



    I'd say at least 90% of iOS users will be on iOS7 by the end of the year. Not an issue.

    Not an issue unless you're one of the potentially millions who can't afford to update their iPhone or iPod touch.

  • Reply 9 of 35
    slurpy wrote: »
    I'd say at least 90% of iOS users will be on iOS7 by the end of the year. Not an issue.

    Leaked copy already on my iPad. I was wrong about iOS 7 being ugly, it's actually beautiful in real life. New features are brilliant and intuitive.
  • Reply 10 of 35
    timmydax wrote: »
    Can't be many 3GSs left, can there?

    I saw a site selling refurbs just 2 months ago.
  • Reply 11 of 35
    jonyojonyo Posts: 117member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by loekf View Post



    Great, so after a binary for both ipad and iphone, we are now getting bloated binaries doing 64 bits as well ?



    So much for 16 GB ....

     

    Keep in mind that the vast majority of the bulk of most apps are the assets, graphics, sounds, stuff like that, not the actual code. A 64-bit/32-bit fat binary won't be double the size of the old 32-bit-only version of the app. In a lot of cases, the file size difference is going to be negligible.

  • Reply 12 of 35
    jonyojonyo Posts: 117member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TimmyDax View Post





    Well that's a bit of an oversight.



    Or maybe just overly optimistic. Maybe not.



    Can't be many 3GSs left, can there?



    iOS7 may just be a Leopard-esque -almost superficial- update, but I think those that can, will.

     

    I think you're missing the important bit. The article says that in about a month Apple will release some changes (I assume an updated version of XCode) that will allow devs to release 32bit for ios6 and 64bit/32bit for ios7 all in one binary. This means that all a dev has to do is hold off on updating their app to 64 bit until this XCode change is released, and they won't leave any ios6 people behind at all, not even temporarily.

  • Reply 13 of 35
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by loekf View Post



    Great, so after a binary for both ipad and iphone, we are now getting bloated binaries doing 64 bits as well ?



    So much for 16 GB ....

     

    Have you any ideal of how much the binaries of an apps weight proportionally of the assets?  The file size increase per architecture is pretty negligible.

  • Reply 14 of 35
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by daveinpublic View Post

     

    But, the next line says that it will change next month.  It doesn't sound like performance of 32 bit apps will be any worse than they are now, so Apple isn't in a rush.  The 64bit performance boost will probably be more noticeable in future iPhones, when there's 4 GB of RAM in it.  They're probably a few years ahead of the curve, rather than a month behind on the product launch.


     

    Get off the 4 GB bandwagon and read up on all the other usefulness of using a 64-bit processor, more specifically the A7.

  • Reply 15 of 35
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post

     

    Not an issue unless you're one of the potentially millions who can't afford to update their iPhone or iPod touch.


     

    anyone with an iPhone that old should be able to upgrade for free to an iPhone 4s that supports iOS7.

  • Reply 16 of 35
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by daveinpublic View Post

     

    But, the next line says that it will change next month.  It doesn't sound like performance of 32 bit apps will be any worse than they are now, so Apple isn't in a rush.  The 64bit performance boost will probably be more noticeable in future iPhones, when there's 4 GB of RAM in it.  They're probably a few years ahead of the curve, rather than a month behind on the product launch.


     

    Yet another who taught 64 bit computing is only good for allocating more ram... 

     

    So according to you, there is absolutely no gain for Intel Core2Duo over the CoreDuo line up? Or does the G5 or Athlon64 was a FUD?  

     

    This will be the third 64bit transition for Apple, the other two couldn't be more smooth for users and developers. 

  • Reply 17 of 35
    jonyo wrote: »
    I think you're missing the important bit. The article says...

    The reason I called it an "oversight" is because they hadn't done it and are now
  • Reply 18 of 35
    Quote:
    Keep in mind that the vast majority of the bulk of most apps are the assets, graphics, sounds, stuff like that, not the actual code. A 64-bit/32-bit fat binary won't be double the size of the old 32-bit-only version of the app. In a lot of cases, the file size difference is going to be negligible.

     

    In addition the instruction set on 64-bit A7 is still 32-bits. There may be arguments passed as 64-bits but in general the code size will not change that much.

     

    <edit: responded to wrong post>

  • Reply 19 of 35
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TimmyDax View Post





    Well that's a bit of an oversight.



    Or maybe just overly optimistic. Maybe not.



    Can't be many 3GSs left, can there?



    iOS7 may just be a Leopard-esque -almost superficial- update, but I think those that can, will.

     

    There is still several million people out there with those devices or there might be some that might not transition to iOS 7 that has a model previous to the 5s.

  • Reply 20 of 35
    jonyojonyo Posts: 117member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TimmyDax View Post





    The reason I called it an "oversight" is because they hadn't done it and are now

     

    Ah, sorry, I guess I misunderstood.

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