Apple will bump up the iPhone 18 to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM
Apple is expected to upgrade the base iPhone to 12GB of RAM - 4GB more than the iPhone 17, and the same as the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air.
According to industry sources, Apple has asked key supplier Samsung to increase its supply of LPDDR5X RAM for the next iPhone lineup. Samsung reportedly only makes LPDDR5X RAM in 12GB and 16GB modules.
The bump up to 12GB will allow the base model iPhone to run AI models on-device, which is hard to pull off with 8GB of RAM.
Apple iPhone 17 Pro
- 256GB 12GB RAM
$ 1,124.97 - 512GB 12GB RAM$ 1,539.00
According to reports, Apple will move to a staggered release schedule starting in 2026. That means we'll get the iPhone Pro models (and a potential Fold or Air) in the Fall of 2026, and the base model iPhone 18 in the Spring of 2027.
Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
- 256GB 12GB RAM$ 1,419.00
- 512GB 12GB RAM$ 1,630.00
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Reader comments
- Maverick22
- 11 Nov 2025
- 3FV
While Apple is planning to increase the LPDDR5X RAM memory for its "hamsters" by a measly 4 GB in the upcoming 18th series, at the same time, Qualcomm is already planning to use LPDDR6 RAM in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro.
- Anonymous
- 29 Oct 2025
- gXJ
Maybe with the iPhone 19 Pro or iPhone 20 Pro. They tend to first upgrade the RAM on the Pro, then the next year they bump up the RAM on the base models to be the same, then they increase the RAM on the Pro models again the following year.
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