With the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro lineup, Apple shipped a major upgrade alongside the A19 Pro chip – 12GB of unified memory. That’s 50% more than the iPhones that directly preceded it, and double what iPhones offered just a couple years ago.
However, the base iPhone 17 with its A19 chip missed out on this upgrade – still sticking with 8GB of unified memory. According to one report from The Bell (via MacRumors), though, that might change with the next model.
First things first, it’s worth noting that the base iPhone 18 likely won’t ship in September 2026. According to multiple rumors, Apple will be transitioning to a staggered release schedule starting with the iPhone 18 lineup. That means iPhone Air 2, iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max, and iPhone Fold will launch in fall 2026. Then, the base model iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e launch in the following spring.
With iPhone 18, Apple is reportedly asking its memory suppliers to produce more LPDDR5X DRAM chips for the iPhone lineup. Most notably, the company is asking Samsung for these additional chips, though the company is also in talks with Micron and SK Hynix for more LPDDR5X supply.
This is particularly significant because said LPDDR5X chips only come in 12GB and 16GB variants.
Aside from that though, it makes sense for the base iPhone 18 to step up to 12GB of memory. It’s pretty typical for Apple to debut an upgrade on a higher-end model and have it trickle down after a year or two.
There aren’t many benefits to the iPhone offering 12GB RAM quite yet. That said, with Apple’s push for local AI models, it’s quite possible we’ll see some exclusive Apple Intelligence features in the future for iPhones with 12GB of RAM – since those devices will be capable of handling larger models.
Only time will tell, but it’s sounding like all flagship iPhones will offer at least 12GB of memory.
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