Apple’s iPhone 18 Gets More RAM, But Still Falls Short of Two Key Siri Upgrades
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the standard iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e will ship with 9GB of RAM, a modest bump from the iPhone 17 generation, but still not enough to unlock two of the most talked-about Apple Intelligence features coming with iOS 27.
Apple’s regular iPhone 18 and its budget iPhone 18e sibling are getting a memory upgrade, but not one large enough to close a gap that’s shaping up between Apple’s standard and Pro iPhone lines.
According to renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the two lower-cost models will carry 9GB of DRAM built from six 1.5GB dies, a step up from the 8GB configuration used in the current iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e.
Kuo framed the extra gigabyte as necessary just to keep everyday Apple Intelligence tasks running smoothly, not as a jump that closes the distance with Apple’s Pro-tier hardware.
Two Siri Features Stay Out of Reach
As MacRumors, the practical result is that two of the Apple Intelligence features of Siri AI introduced at WWDC will remain unavailable on the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e despite their memory upgrade.
The first feature, More Expressive Siri Voices, lets users adjust Siri’s voice and speaking pace, while the second, Advanced Siri Dictation, significantly improves system-wide dictation accuracy.
Kuo says both features rely on Apple’s most advanced on-device AI model, which requires at least 12GB of RAM, a threshold the standard iPhone 18 won’t meet.
For now, only the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air meet that requirement, meaning the gap between Apple’s standard and premium models is likely to continue next year.
While iOS 27 will still bring most new features to the iPhone 15 Pro lineup and newer, the memory limitation affects only these two AI capabilities rather than the update as a whole.
Pro Models and the Foldable Hold Steady at 12GB
Kuo’s report also confirms that Apple isn’t changing memory on its higher-end 2026 hardware.
The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and Apple’s first foldable iPhone, expected to use the A20 Pro chip, will keep the same 12GB memory configuration with eight 1.5GB dies found in the iPhone 17 Pro lineup.
That means anyone wanting full access to every Apple Intelligence feature at launch will still need a Pro model or the foldable instead of the standard iPhone 18.
The release schedule also remains split, with the Pro models and foldable expected in September, followed by the iPhone 18, iPhone 18e, and second-generation iPhone Air around March 2027.
A Shortage-Shaped Decision
The memory split also reflects broader pressure on Apple’s supply chain, where DRAM and NAND flash prices have climbed sharply amid a global shortage, causing price hikes in consumer hardware.
Apple already raised prices on more than a dozen products in June, though iPhones were spared from that round of increases.
Analysts have suggested the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e could still see a price bump of $100 to $200 over their iPhone 17 counterparts once they launch, even without a matching jump in RAM.
For now, the memory gap appears to be a deliberate trade-off, with Apple choosing a modest memory upgrade for its standard iPhone over rolling out the 12GB required for its most advanced Apple Intelligence features across the lineup amid ongoing supply constraints.
Source: iPhone 18 With 9GB RAM Still Won’t Support Two New iOS 27 Features
