The iPhone is the one product in Apple’s lineup the place Apple goes out of its technique to keep away from mentioning the quantity of RAM. Apple has continued to improve the capability and velocity of its iPhone RAM over time. Additionally, iOS is optimized to work with extra restricted reminiscence availability. Typically, the iPhone beats rivals with far more RAM in velocity exams because of Apple’s capability to manage the {hardware} and software program expertise like that. As a longtime iPhone person, I’ve by no means felt just like the iPhone had bother dealing with what I throw at it, even when utilizing iPhones that had been a number of years previous.
However regardless of how briskly and clean the iPhone is, Apple in all probability doesn’t like to say RAM capability for advertising causes. Android telephones used to have (and wish) far more RAM. Nonetheless, most lately, some distributors have tempered the reminiscence upgrades, with Samsung being one instance.
However now that the age of AI is right here, Apple’s RAM technique for the iPhone may harm the iPhone greater than the corporate is prepared to confess. The language fashions that energy on-device AI — which is the sort of non-public AI that Apple desires to supply customers in iOS 18 — may include minimal RAM necessities. That probably implies that older iPhone fashions gained’t get the newest and best AI options from Apple. In any case, the one technique to improve the RAM shall be to have an iPhone 15 Professional or to purchase an iPhone 16 this fall.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has mentioned greater than as soon as in his iOS 18 predictions that you simply’ll want an iPhone 15 Professional or later to deal with on-device AI. I famous earlier that I won’t attempt iOS 18 whereas it’s in beta if I don’t have entry to probably the most thrilling new AI options out there within the launch.
Moreover, I mused that iOS might all the time characteristic a dynamic strategy to AI processing primarily based on rumors that the working system will assess the {hardware} capabilities earlier than processing AI requests. I wouldn’t be stunned if some AI options which can be processed on-device on iPhone 15 Professional and later fashions get cloud processing for anything that may run iOS 18.
Gurman didn’t point out something about these handsets’ RAM. Nonetheless, should you’re conversant in iPhone {hardware}, you in all probability know the iPhone 15 Professional and 15 Professional Max are the one iPhones in historical past that includes 8GB of RAM. The iPhone 16 fashions will all pack 8GB of RAM.
Reminiscence appears to be the bottleneck for on-device processing, a element Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo famous in his predictions for Apple’s WWDC 2024 occasion on Monday.
Particularly, Kuo mentioned that Apple’s growth points with its giant language fashions (LLM) for the iPhone. Reminiscence is an issue for on-device AI skills:
My newest survey signifies that Apple is creating its cloud-based and on-device LLMs. Nonetheless, it’s unlikely that Apple will announce growth progress that considerably exceeds market expectations at WWDC 2024. Cloud-based LLMs require extra time to coach, and the event of on-device LLMs is at present restricted by the iPhone 16’s 8GB of DRAM.
Some reviews late final yr mentioned that smartphones will want 12GB of RAM to deal with on-device AI. I questioned on the time whether or not the iPhone 16 fashions would get such a reminiscence improve.
My reply got here quickly sufficient within the type of an Apple AI breakthrough that allowed Apple to optimize on-device AI for gadgets with restricted assets. I mentioned then that Apple in all probability gained’t give the iPhone 16 a serious RAM increase due to that. However that’s hypothesis.
Curiously, Kuo says that iOS 18’s AI options aren’t sufficient to drive a giant iPhone alternative demand. His provide chain checks counsel iPhone 16 shipments will decline by about 5% within the second half of 2024 in comparison with iPhone 15 shipments final yr. Kuo says, “Apple might imagine that iOS 18 could have restricted assist in driving alternative demand.” However WWDC reception may change cargo estimates.
I’m sure Apple will need to convey its Apple Intelligence suite of AI options to as many iPhones as attainable. Ideally, it’ll be on-device AI for a lot of options.
However I additionally suppose Apple should remorse coping with {hardware} limitations like RAM capability on older iPhones with regards to AI. A wealthy suite of on-device AI options could possibly be a game-changer and one thing solely Apple can provide proper now, on condition that a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of iPhones will get the iOS 18 improve later this yr.
