- The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max have been tipped to get 12GB of RAM.
- That's more than the current models 8GB.
- This could be a big power boost for running AI tools on-device.
The rumored iPhone 17 Pro could get a RAM boost, and the next phone is tipped to sport 12GB of random access memory by GFHK Tech Research analyst Jeff Pu.
In an investors note seen by 9to5Mac, Pu corroborated rumors flagged last year by analyst and pseudo-Apple oracle Ming-Chi Kuo that the next-generation Pro iPhone models will get a decent upgrade from the 8GB of RAM the current iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max use.
“Meanwhile iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are expected to migrate to LPDDR5 12GB, this transition alone will contribute to a 3.5% YoY increase in smartphone DRAM content across an estimated 100 million new iPhone units,” Pu said.
Now, in my time with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, with its current suite of 8GB RAM and the fast A18 Bionic chip, I hardly find it to be slow; apps load quickly and the whole iOS experience feels very slick and smooth.
However, more RAM is one way to future-proof next-gen Pro phones, as artificial intelligence features, Apple Intelligence here, tend to require a healthy pool of RAM, especially if they run AI tasks on-device rather than tap into the cloud.
9to5mac observed that such a boost in RAM for AI purposes was also part of Apple's Mac lineup update. Today's new Mac computers come with 16GB of RAM as a minimum. So, this note by Pu and Kuo’s original claim all make sense.
While upping the RAM of the future iPhone is promising to ensure they have a degree of longevity amid the yearly releases of flagship phones, my hope is Apple uses this extra power to also introduce some impressive and smart new AI features to the next Pro iPhones. Right now, Apple Intelligence has some solid features but none feel like groundbreaking, must-use tools.
Just spitballing, I’d love to see Apple Intelligence use both iPhone cameras and Apple Watch data to propose custom workouts for me to bust my gut and get in trimmer shape. Instead, Apple Intelligence has me stuck with being able to rework the tone of emails and messages, or squash two emojis together to create some new abomination… sigh.
Also, as we roundup the best AI phones, I feel Apple needs to bring something special to iPhone 17 fore to beat Google and its Pixel phones on the AI front.
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