A well-known analyst has stated that Apple could increase the RAM available on the iPhone 17 series. But there’s a possible downside.
In a recent blog post, Ming-Chi Kuo stated that, according to his latest industry surveys, Apple was planning to increase the RAM of the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the iPhone 17 Air to 12GB. Apple also wants to increase the RAM of the base iPhone 17, but potential supply issues have delayed that decision until May.
According to the blog, the planned increase in RAM is due to increased competition in the smartphone market. However, as a negative, Ming-Chi Kuo states that the average selling price for a 12GB RAM module is around 50% higher than for 8GB. This could mean a price increase for the iPhones when they eventually hit the shelves.
A RAM upgrade is sorely needed after the Apple Intelligence issues
While a price increase would be bad, there’s little doubt that Apple is behind other smartphones in terms of RAM. Apple has used 6GB of RAM for many generations of iPhone, only increasing the RAM available on its phones to 8GB for the iPhone 16 series and the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max the year before.
Now, while having so many devices with only 6GB wasn’t a massive problem for performance due to Apple's chip architecture, it soon became one when Apple tried to introduce AI.
The issue was that, for Apple Intelligence to work to the company's set standard, a device needed about 2GB of spare RAM. However, with most iPhones maximising what they could with the 6GB, there was just no way for most devices to make use of Apple Intelligence.
This is apparently why iPhone users, excluding those with iPhone 16s or iPhone 15 Pros, do not get access to most of the new features, which, when combined with the delayed release of many of Apple’s AI features, has upset a lot of users (including myself).
More RAM also means a faster phone
RAM essentially acts as a device's short-term memory. This helps to increase the speed at which the phone can access data, instructions for running applications and the operating system. This, in turn, makes performance much more seamless and efficient.
Now, to be fair to Apple, it manages to keep pace with other devices even while running with only 8GB of RAM, which is a testament to Apple’s iOS and its A-series chips. However, as more phones come out with 16GB and even 24GB of RAM, Apple needed to take action. Not to mention Apple, having come late to the AI game, needs more power to help it catch up.
It’s always worth taking leaks like these with a pinch of salt, however, the source is pretty reputable so it’s certainly possible. The question now is, if the RAM increase does happen, how much more expensive will the phones be?
For now, we will have to wait until Apple officially announces the next generation of iPhone, which we expect to happen around September. However, there’s little doubt that at least one of the iPhones will appear on our best phones list.
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