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iPhone 18 With 9GB RAM Still Won't Support Two New iOS 27 Features

And the evidence for the theory that the iPhone 18 normal is… Literally just the iPhone Air 2 continues to grow.
And the 18e is The new default 18.
Not only does this match up with both the iPad and MacBook lines, but it allows them to increase prices while not looking like they are increasing prices.

18e: $699-749, 9 GB of RAM, regular A20 chip, literally everything else recycled from the previous 17e and 17.
iPhone Air: somewhere between $999 and $1099, dual cameras on the back, dual speakers, bigger battery with more efficient A20Pro chip, New color options.

Bam! The price increases, and yet it kind of sort of doesn’t. Just like the Mac mini, there is no more $599 option and The middle option, the thing between the economy model ($699-749) and the Pro ($1299+) is now over $1000 and called the iPhone Air.
 
staypuftforums said:
A price hike on the 18e would be ridiculous. The e series is already way overpriced.
Click to expand...
Well, given that there was a Mac mini at $599 and a MacBook Neo at $599, and both are now gone, I think it’s very likely that the iPhone at $599 will likely be gone as well.
Instead, I think the 18 and 18e Will become just a new basic iPhone, priced somewhere between $699 and $799, and is basically the described combo of the two. Basic aluminum build, probably limited color options, dual camera, 9 GB of RAM, maybe it lacks 120 hertz.
And then the $999 iPhone Air becomes the new default, with it’s rumored upgrades of a dual camera system on the back and a bigger battery.
 
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So Apple Intelligence will eat up 4-8GB RAM depending on how much RAM your device has? Yikes.

Older devices with 6GB RAM will be less constrained than new devices that have Apple Inteligence enabled.

IMO, a massive waste of energy on a battery powered device.
 
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Siri has been garbage for so long, and to now gatekeep all the features to the Pro phones is lame.

Eat some of that profit margin, Apple.
 
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now i see it said:
Google has stated that on-device AI is going to require 24GB of RAM to run well …. so iPhone still has a long way to go. It’ll still be starved on the Pro phones that have a paltry 12GB.
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I just want the vastly improved autocorrect and dictation it makes possible. Which I know for a fact can already be done with local models because other companies are already doing it right now on this very phone.

Can’t believe we’ve had to wait so long and I still have autocorrect turned off because in the year 2026 it’s worse than ever.
 
CarAnalogy said:
I just want the vastly improved autocorrect and dictation it makes possible. Which I know for a fact can already be done with local models because other companies are already doing it right now on this very phone.
Click to expand...

So why wait for Apple? Why don’t you use one of those other companies AI-enhanced keyboard apps?

CarAnalogy said:
Can’t believe we’ve had to wait so long and I still have autocorrect turned off because in the year 2026 it’s worse than ever.
Click to expand...

Autocorrect isn’t perfect but that’s an exaggeration. You’re much better off dealing with its occasional quirks than turning it off.
 
I was looking forward to the iPhone 18 but if it’s only going to be 9GB then I’m not so sure.

Maybe I can make my 13 last another year, or maybe I’ll pick up a cheap refurb 17 instead. Without significant extra RAM, the 18 just doesn’t sound like a compelling upgrade over the 17 anymore.
 
kiranmk2 said:
Do we know 9 GB won't be enough for those features or is it just speculation from MacRumors? I mean, why increase the amount of RAM in a RAM pricing crises if it doesn't add anything otherwise? Apple pretty much had to say that the features need 12 GB RAM because the only options are 8 GB or 12 GB - saying they needed 9 GB would just confused people and give away a specification of devices that are still 9 months from release.
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I don’t know for sure if 12 GB of Memory is the current requirement or not but my assumption is that Apple will try and figure out how to get the advanced dictation and customizable Siri voice to work with 9 GB of Memory. Apple is no longer insistent that everything happen on-device so maybe 9 GB of on-device Memory in conjunction with private cloud compute will allow the advanced features will still work.
 
9GB? The weirdest RAM amount ever. Considering how much it costs they could have put 16 GB, RAM crisi is already priced in the extortionate prices apple has.
 
For years Apple has been limiting RAM as a means for planned obsolescence as well as a reason to push customers to pay for a pro when all they really need is a bit more memory. It was never that they had such an efficient operating system. It's that they carefully calculated exactly how much memory would make the phone feel fast today but also inspire upgrades in the next two years. I guess with AI and people keeping phones longer they now need to be more aggressive about it.
Remember, they answer to shareholders, not customers.
 
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Apple’s approach here feels less like innovation and more like calculated gatekeeping, deliberately crippling lower-tier devices so essential AI features become a luxury reserved for those willing to pay inflated prices.

This engineered divide turns the lineup into a blatant 'pay more or fall behind' scheme, exposing a profit-obsessed strategy that prioritizes squeezing consumers over delivering equitable, fully realized products.
 
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The post-computer era will be here soon enough. They'll make computers so bad, no one will want to use one anymore.
 
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