IPhone 18 Gets 9GB RAM to Run Apple Intelligence on Base Models
What You Need to Know
- IPhone 18 and 18e will include 9GB RAM, up from 8GB in current standard models.
- IPhone 18 Pro models remain at 12GB RAM, narrowing the gap between tiers from 4GB to 3GB.
- Extra RAM supports Apple Intelligence workloads in iOS 27 on standard iPhones.
- IPhone 18 pricing likely to increase, following recent Mac and iPad price hikes.
The RAM gap between Apple’s Pro and standard iPhone lines is quietly closing, and the reason is less about hardware ambition than AI necessity.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports that the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e, the lower-end models expected around March or April 2027, will ship with 9GB of DRAM, up from 8GB in the current iPhone 17 standard models. The change comes from a different die configuration on the A20 chip: 1.5GB times six dies, rather than the 2GB times four dies arrangement used today.
The Pro tier isn’t moving. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, arriving this fall alongside a foldable iPhone, are expected to stay at 12GB RAM using a 1.5GB times eight die setup, matching the current iPhone 17 Pro models. The gap between tiers narrows from 4GB to 3GB, which is a small but telling shift.
Why the bump matters
Kuo’s framing is direct: the extra gigabyte exists to support Apple Intelligence workloads in iOS 27. That context is hard to ignore given that some Siri features have already been restricted to Pro hardware, a pattern Apple would presumably prefer not to repeat indefinitely if it wants AI to be a mainstream selling point rather than a premium upsell.
The memory cost implications for the base models are unclear, but pricing pressure is already in the air. Apple recently raised prices across its Mac and iPad lines, and Kuo suggests iPhone 18 models are unlikely to escape similar increases when they arrive.
The standard iPhone has often been where Apple tests how little it can offer before buyers notice. Shipping 9GB in the base model suggests Apple has decided that floor needs to rise, at least where AI is involved.
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