The upcoming iPhone 18 will feature 12 GB of RAM instead of the 8 GB found in the iPhone 17, to support more powerful artificial intelligence features, as reported by DigiTimes.
During the recent WWDC 2026 conference, Apple unveiled a range of new features and an improved Siri AI assistant and said that its most powerful model would deliver more expressive Siri voices and significant improvements in dictation accuracy, though this would require 12 GB of RAM.
Among the company's current range of smartphones, the most powerful models are the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. The standard iPhone 17 will not receive these improvements due to its 8 GB of RAM. With the iPhone 18, this problem will not arise thanks to 12 GB of RAM, whilst Apple has no plans to increase the smartphone's price.
This information has emerged from Apple's request to its RAM suppliers – Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron. Meanwhile, the company will continue to purchase memory at prices above market rates and will cover the additional costs itself, without passing them on to consumers. Consequently, the base model of the iPhone 18 will continue to cost US$799.
The iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, along with the first foldable iPhone, are expected to be unveiled in autumn 2026. The iPhone 18, 18e and Air 2 will be unveiled later, tentatively in the first half of 2027.
