All the recently released Apple devices—including the iPhone 16 series and the new iPad mini—come equipped with 8GB of RAM. Yes, this includes the standard iPhone 16 models as well. But why would Apple opt for 8GB of RAM when its previous devices, like the iPhone 15, have run smoothly with 6GB? The answer lies in a common link between all the newly released devices—Apple Intelligence. All the new Apple devices support Apple Intelligence, and 8GB of RAM is believed to be a requirement. It is said that 8GB of RAM may be the bare minimum needed to utilise Apple Intelligence.
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Apple Intelligence and 8GB RAM Requirement: What We Know
Johny Srouji, Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies at Apple, confirmed in an interview with YouTuber Geekerwan earlier this year that Apple Intelligence requires 8GB of RAM. “We have extensive data on what enables certain features and Apple Intelligence is a crucial feature that we wanted to support,” he told Geekerwan. He added, “We evaluate different configurations for computation, memory bandwidth and capacity to ensure the best performance. Apple Intelligence was a key factor in our decision to increase the RAM to 8GB.”
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The iPad mini, which has been updated after three years, also now sports 8GB of RAM, as confirmed by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Considering it is a premium iPad, Apple likely didn’t want it to ship without Apple Intelligence, which is why they added 8GB of RAM alongside the A17 Pro processor.
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Why the Standard iPhone 15 Models Don’t Support Apple Intelligence
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are the only models from the iPhone 15 series that support Apple’s latest AI features. If you think about it, the standard models come with 6GB of RAM, while the iPhone 15 Pro models have 8GB (the same as the iPhone 16 series), which might explain the difference. Of course, the iPhone 15 Pro also has the faster A17 Pro processor, but AI features can exist on much less powerful chipsets through hybrid implementation.
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