- iPhone 18 could benefit from a RAM upgrade
- It could have 12GB of RAM to match other iPhones
- More RAM means better support for AI features
Of the four iPhones Apple launched last month, the iPhone 17 is the only one with 8GB of RAM – all others have 12GB. According to a new rumor, this will change with the iPhone 18 next year.
This comes from South Korean outlet The Bell (via MacRumors), and the report suggests that Apple’s usual RAM supplier, Samsung, has been asked to increase the number of modules available for 2026 production runs.
An additional 50% increase is a considerable increase in RAM for the iPhone 18, but it makes sense that Apple would want to upgrade this feature: we know that AI needs as much memory space as possible, and we’ll undoubtedly get more improvements from Apple Intelligence next year.
Apple’s iPhones still lag behind Android phones in terms of RAM – the Samsung Galaxy S25 has 12GB of RAM, for example – but can often compensate with the power of their mobile chipsets and software optimizations.
Recent RAM Updates
The base iPhone has had 8GB of RAM since the iPhone 16 launched in 2024, and before that the iPhone 15 got by with 6GB – which is why Apple Intelligence only works on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max in that handset series.
All iPhone 16 models have 8GB of RAM, so it was only this year that the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max upgraded to 12GB. The iPhone Air also runs on 12GB of RAM and shares the same A19 Pro chip as the Pro models (the iPhone 17 uses the A19 standard).
This of course has a knock-on effect on performance and pricing, so it will be interesting to see how Apple decides to differentiate the different iPhone 18 handsets, if this key specification is the same across all.
So far, we haven’t heard many rumors and leaks around the iPhone 18, although there has been talk of full 5G satellite connectivity, and there could also be a substantial camera upgrade for the Pro and Pro Max models.
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