HPACK on request headers does have a significant impact due to TCP/IP slow start and high latency of mobile networks. 100 requests per page is common (http://httparchive.org/interesting.php), so it quickly adds up, especially for sites that use lots of cookies (well, sites shouldn't use tons of cookies, but in the end it was easier to change HTTP than the sites).
Relatively large request overhead of HTTP/1 caused headaches with icon fonts, sprite maps, and gigantic compiled JS bundles. The aim of HTTP/2 was to make requests so cheap that we could go back to having individual icon files and unbundled ES6 modules.
Relatively large request overhead of HTTP/1 caused headaches with icon fonts, sprite maps, and gigantic compiled JS bundles. The aim of HTTP/2 was to make requests so cheap that we could go back to having individual icon files and unbundled ES6 modules.