Mashable: Data explains iOS's "weight gain" process

As the iOS system becomes more and more powerful, its size is also increasing, from 95MB when iOS was first launched to 957MB in the latest iOS6. It can be seen that except for the size change from iOS2 to iOS3, the other version upgrades are revolutionary.

iOS 1 was released together with the first generation of iPhone. Although it may be difficult to imagine now, when iOS 1 was released, its relatively backward features and functions were not enough to make it outperform its competitors directly in paper parameter comparison. At that time, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Symbian, and even BlackBerry were relatively mature systems in 2007, and they all had extensive and deep feature accumulation. In iOS at that time, you had no way to copy/paste text, and you had no way to add attachments to the email you wanted to send. Even MMS was not supported by iPhone. Other missing features include: Exchange email push, customizable home screen, tethering, visible global file manager, Office file editing, voice dialing, and the openness that should be given to hackers and developers. And it is such a lightweight system of 95MB that has brought us a visual revolution, giving us no reason not to like it.

In July 2008, Apple released the Appstore to the public. Third-party applications were still a bit elusive at the time, but Apple was working hard to get users used to the way iOS developed, browsed, and installed applications. The core goal of iOS2 was to solve the application problem. What iOS2 brought was the Appstore, which no other app store could match until now. As a result, the size of iOS grew to 230MB.

In June 2009, iOS 3.0 and iPhone 3GS were released together. Similar to 3GS, it did not have many explosive features worth writing about. It was more about filling in the missing features in the previous iOS system. The functional updates touched almost every corner of this operating system. After the performance optimization, the size did not increase, but only increased from 230MB to 240MB. The increase of only 10MB brought a leap in performance, which is really admirable.

iOS 4, released in June 2010, had only one goal: to meet the needs of advanced users. Multitasking, folders, Wi-Fi hotspots, spell checking, customizable Spotlight global search (including web and Wikipedia), unified inbox, support for multiple Exchange accounts, etc., all these new features helped iOS to fight against the invading Android. Another reason for the sudden increase in the size of iOS 4 is that in iOS 4, Apple unified the system versions of its tablet iPad and mobile phone iPhone for the first time. The size of iOS this time can be said to have grown dramatically, increasing to 607MB.

iOS5, released in October 2011, brought us enhanced functions: Siri, iCloud, Notification Center and iMessage, which undoubtedly made our mobile phones more powerful. All the important features of iOS5 are aimed at the future of iOS, not just for this upgrade. However, we have a feeling that iOS is moving towards replacing computers, at least for a considerable number of users. So far, the size of iOS has grown to 835MB.

In September 2012, Apple's official website released the iOS 6 system upgrade. iOS 6 has more than 200 new features, many Chinese elements, and the departure of Google Maps. Apple's own maps are added (although Apple Maps is not yet perfect). At the same time, Youtube is no longer integrated, Facebook is added, and Apple's voice assistant Siri system will also add 15 new countries and regions. The surrounding areas of China will support Cantonese and Taiwanese dialects. In addition to the enhancement of Apple's own functions, this update is more about the potential of the Chinese market and the consideration of the feelings of Chinese users. This update is of great significance to Chinese users, and it also means that we will enjoy better quality iOS services in the future. And this time it is included in this less than 1GB body.