iPhone 18 With 9GB RAM Still Won't Support Two New iOS 27 Features

Friday July 3, 2026 12:10 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

The lower-end iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e will be equipped with 9GB of RAM, up from 8GB in the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e, according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

iphone 17 ceramic shield
In a social media post, Kuo said the 1GB increase in RAM will ensure that Apple Intelligence features continue to run smoothly on the pair of devices.

The higher-end iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and foldable "iPhone Ultra" will each have the same 12GB of RAM as the iPhone 17 Pro models, added Kuo.

Apple is expected to release the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the iPhone Ultra in September this year, while the iPhone 18, iPhone 18e, and a second-generation iPhone Air will reportedly be released around March 2027.

Even with an increased 9GB of RAM, two new Apple Intelligence features coming with iOS 27 will not 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 boost in accuracy" for speech-to-text dictation. This is because the latest advanced on-device Apple Intelligence model powering those two features requires a minimum of 12GB of RAM.

Here are the confirmed RAM amounts for the iPhone 17 series:

iPhone 17e: 8GB
iPhone 17: 8GB
iPhone 17 Pro: 12GB
iPhone 17 Pro Max: 12GB

The rumored RAM amounts for the iPhone 18 series and iPhone Ultra:

iPhone 18e: 9GB
iPhone 18: 9GB
iPhone 18 Pro: 12GB
iPhone 18 Pro Max: 12GB
iPhone Ultra: 12GB

The second-generation iPhone Air will presumably have 12GB of RAM, too.

RAM and NAND storage chips are currently expensive due to a supply shortage, resulting in Apple raising prices on more than a dozen products last month. For now, iPhones 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.

Related Roundups: iOS 27, iPadOS 27, iPhone 18

Related Forums: iOS 27, iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

sw1tcher

16 weeks ago

Even with an increased 9GB of RAM, two new Apple Intelligence features coming with iOS 27 will not 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 boost in accuracy" for speech-to-text dictation. This is because the latest advanced on-device Apple Intelligence model powering those two features requires a minimum of 12GB of RAM.

Is this not available for the iPhone?

Score: 92 Votes (Like | Disagree)

senttoschool

16 weeks ago

They were almost certainly planning 12GB for iPhone 18 and 16GB for iPhone 18 Pro before this RAM crisis.

Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)

svish

16 weeks ago

Might be only two features for now but think as and when more Apple Intelligence features are added, some of them will be available only on the Pro models going forward.

Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)

jarman92

16 weeks ago

If this is true, the Iphone 18 will flop hard.

Lol because people in the market for the base iPhone are definitely basing their purchase decisions on whether they can customize Siri's expressiveness 😂

Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)

citysnaps

16 weeks ago

Might be only two features for now but think as and when more Apple Intelligence features are added, some of them will be available only on the Pro models going forward.

No worries... Almost everyone here last year said they'd immediately disable/remove Apple AI on their iPhones.

What's funny, is that I suspect most of them will now vociferously complain that iPhones with 9GB of RAM won't support some Apple AI features.

Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)