Apple's iPhone 18 isn't expected to be announced until 2027, but buyers can perhaps look forward to a RAM upgrade similar to the one the iPhone 17 Pro got.
Apple is expected to switch up its iPhone release cadence this year, and it's bad news for budget-conscious buyers. It's expected that the entry-level iPhone 18 won't ship alongside the Pro models, leaving customers to wait until early 2027.
But analyst Dan Nystedt believes that the wait might be worth it. In a new post on the X social network, Nystedt says that, in a first for the entry-level model, the iPhone 18 will come with 12GB of RAM.
This follows Apple's decision to upgrade the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max to 12GB of RAM in September 2025. It's thought that the bump in RAM is thanks to the new A20 chip that will power the device.
Not-so-random RAM
Nystedt didn't get into why Apple might choose to give the iPhone 18 50% more RAM than the iPhone 17. But with Apple expected to bring even more Apple Intelligence features to iOS 27, it shouldn't be all that surprising.
AI features require as much RAM as they can get, and Apple is playing catch-up. The iPhone 18 may not be Apple's premium model, but it still needs to be capable of running all of iOS 27's new features and beyond.
Apple is expected to announce iOS 27 at WWDC on June 8 before putting it through months of beta testing. We can then expect the software to be released this fall, likely alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the hotly anticipated iPhone Fold.
