The low-end iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e will come with 9GB of RAM, compared to 8GB for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e, according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
In a social media post, Kuo said the 1GB RAM increase would ensure Apple Intelligence features continue to work properly on the pair of devices.
The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and the high-end foldable iPhone Ultra will each have the same 12GB of RAM as the iPhone 17 Pro models, Kuo added.
Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and iPhone Ultra in September this year, while the iPhone 18, iPhone 18e, and a second-generation iPhone Air would be released around March 2027.
Even with a 9GB increase in RAM, two new Apple Intelligence features coming with iOS 27 won’t be available on the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e, including the ability to customize the expressiveness and pace of Siri’s voice and a “major increase in accuracy” for speech-to-text dictation. Indeed, the latest Apple Intelligence advanced on-device model that powers both of these features requires a minimum of 12 GB of RAM.
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Here are the confirmed RAM amounts for the iPhone 17 series:
- iPhone 17e: 8 GB
- iPhone17: 8 GB
- iPhone 17 Pro: 12 GB
- iPhone 17 ProMax: 12 GB
Assumed RAM amounts for the iPhone 18 series and iPhone Ultra:
- iPhone 18e: 9 GB
- iPhone18: 9 GB
- iPhone 18 Pro: 12 GB
- iPhone 18 ProMax: 12 GB
- iPhone Ultra: 12 GB
The second-generation iPhone Air will likely also have 12GB of RAM.
RAM and NAND storage chips are currently expensive due to a supply shortage, leading Apple to raise prices on more than a dozen products last month. For now, iPhones have avoided price increases, but analysts have estimated that the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e could cost $100 to $200 more than the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e.
