iPhone 18 could receive big bump in key spec for Apple Intelligence
The iPhone 18 may be much better at running Apple Intelligence.
Citing Korean outlet The Bell, MacRumors reports that the base iPhone 18 may get a 50% bump in RAM. According to The Bell, Apple has already petitioned companies like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron for higher orders of LPDDR5X RAM for next year's iPhones. It should be noted that Samsung currently only sells LPDDR5X RAM in either 12 GB or 16 GB configurations.
This increase would put the base iPhone 18 at 12 GB of RAM, in line with the higher-end Pro models and the possible (if unlikely) iPhone Air 2. For reference, the current iPhone 17 has only 8 GB of RAM, while the Air, 17 Pro, and 17 Pro Max each have 12 GB of RAM.
Of course, this is currently speculation and should be taken with a large grain of salt. Still, with Apple continuing to push Apple Intelligence (its flavor of AI) and on-device AI models, the company's handsets are going to need more RAM. While 8 GB of RAM is likely sufficient for most consumers and their day-to-day demands, AI models are notoriously memory-intensive, so bumping the base iPhone 18 up to 12 GB of RAM to accommodate an on-device model is likely.
We will know for certain when Apple announces the iPhone 18, likely in the Fall of 2026.
