Apple's lower-end iPhone 18 models, expected to be announced in spring 2027, will feature 9GB of RAM for improved Apple Intelligence support, according to a new analyst report. A20 is expected to bring more RAM to entry-level iPhones Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the lower-end models, likely to be the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e, will have 1GB more RAM than the outgoing iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e . As for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, Kuo expects those phones to sport 12GB of RAM. This matches the current iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
The lower-end iPhone 18 models set to launch in spring 2027 will feature 9GB DRAM, up from 8GB, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo . Kuo says the A20 chip Apple plans to use for the devices will have 1.5GB x 6 dies for a total of 9GB RAM, instead of 2GB x 4 dies as the current lower-end iPhone 17 models use. By lower-end iPhones, Kuo is likely referencing the ‌iPhone 18‌ and the iPhone 18e, both of which are rumored to be coming around March or April of 2027. Apple plans to introduce the iPhone 18 Pro , ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max, and foldable iPhone this fall, and those devices are expected to feature 12GB RAM (1.5GB x 8 dies) like the current iPhone 17 Pro models. Apple will add more RAM to the ‌iPhone 18‌ models to make sure the devices work well with AI workloads and are able to support all of the Apple Intelligence features coming in iOS 27 . Apple yesterday raised prices across its Mac and iPad lines , but ‌iPhone 17‌ pricing hasn't gone up. Apple will likely implement price hikes when the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ models come out, and since Apple raised the cost of even the low-end iPad and the MacBook Neo , the ‌iPhone 18‌ and iPhone 18e probably won't be exempt from an increase. Related Roundup: iPhone 18 Related Forum: iPhone This article, " 2027 iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e to Get 9GB RAM and A20 Chip " first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums
Micron's chief business officer has hinted, without calling it out by name, that Apple's tough supplier negotiations contributed to the conditions behind the global memory shortage. In remarks given to The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Sumit Sadana explained that Micron was unable to fund capacity expansion during the industry's previous slump, a period when its margins turned negative partly because some buyers pushed relentlessly for lower prices. We told a couple of the customers who were being very aggressive with pricing at that time that this is not constructive. A lot of the industry investments got shut down in 2023 because of really poor pricing and really poor margins. Micron is one of Apple's memory suppliers, providing some of the DRAM and NAND flash chips that go into iPhones, Macs, and iPads. Apple has a reputation for getting favorable terms from suppliers like Micron through long-term purchasing contracts. Sadana's comments came just hours after Apple unveiled a sweeping round of price hikes that touched nearly every part of its hardware lineup. Products across the Mac, iPad , Apple TV , HomePod , and Vision Pro lines all went up in price, with only the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods left untouched. Apple's stock closed down 6% the same day , its worst single-day performance in more than a year, wiping out roughly $265 billion in market value. Apple CEO Tim Cook forewarned about this outcome more than a week earlier in comments to the same publication , warning that price increases had become unavoidable given how the company was being squeezed on memory and storage costs. Cook said Apple had been trying to shield customers from the worst of it but had reached a breaking point, describing the shortage as a "hundred-year flood" unlike anything he had seen in more than four decades. He pointed to the surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers, arguing that consumer products were now competing for a shrinking pool of supply and that pricing needed to come back down to earth before Apple's own prices could follow. Tag: Micron This article, " Micron Suggests Apple Helped Cause Memory Price Crisis " first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums
