Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
iPhone 18 Pro this, iPhone 18 Pro that. While everyone is focused on what Apple’s flagship models will bring, the vanilla iPhone 18 and the more affordable iPhone 18e are quietly shaping up to receive some meaningful upgrades of their own. According to reports, the standard iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e, expected to launch in the first half of 2027. And these new gen Apple devices may arrive with a new A20 chip alongside 9GB of RAM.
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While the upgrade may appear modest on paper, it is said to be aimed at improving Apple Intelligence performance as AI becomes more deeply integrated into iOS.
According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s lower-end 2027 iPhones powered by the A20 chip will move to 9GB of DRAM. In a post on X, he said the phones will use a 1.5GB 6-die memory configuration, replacing the current 8GB setup found in A19-powered models, which use a 2GB 4-die configuration.
“iOS 27 will bring tighter system-level integration with Apple Intelligence,” Kuo wrote in his post on X. “My latest industry checks suggest Apple’s lower-end 1H27 iPhones, powered by the A20 chip, will move to 9GB DRAM (1.5GB 6 dies), up from 8GB (2GB 4 dies) in the current A19 models, to keep the system running smoothly under AI workloads.”
Kuo suggests that Apple’s premium models launching in late 2026 will continue to feature 12GB of RAM. These include the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and the company’s first foldable iPhone, all of which are expected to run on the more powerful A20 Pro chip. Unlike the lower-end models, the Pro devices are not expected to receive a memory upgrade and will reportedly continue with a 1.5GB 8-die configuration.
“The three new high-end 2H26 models powered by the A20 Pro chip (the foldable and two iPhone 18 Pro models) will remain unchanged at 12GB (1.5GB 8 dies).”
The reported RAM increase comes as Apple prepares to make Apple Intelligence a bigger part of the iPhone experience. At WWDC 2026, the company introduced iOS 27, which is designed to bring tighter system-level integration with Apple Intelligence. The update includes new AI-powered features, including the next generation of Siri, placing greater emphasis on on-device processing and memory management.
That makes the move from 8GB to 9GB significant, even if it appears to be a relatively small upgrade. More RAM could allow the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e to handle multitasking and AI-assisted features more efficiently while reducing slowdowns during demanding workloads.
However, it remains unclear whether 9GB of RAM will be enough to unlock Apple’s most advanced AI capabilities. Current reports suggest that many Apple Intelligence features already work on devices with 8GB of RAM, as long as they support iOS 27. However, some of the more advanced on-device AI models are said to require 12GB of memory.
This has led to speculation that Apple could continue reserving certain premium AI features for its Pro models. Reports have also suggested that some Siri AI capabilities available in the iOS 27 beta are currently limited to Pro-level models with 12GB of RAM, while standard models miss out on those features.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
