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Kuo: Next Year's Upgrade to 12GB RAM Will Be Limited to iPhone 17 Pro Max
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So your iPhone stutters and lags with the amount of RAM it has or you just want it for bragging rights?
We all know you're saying that only because your iPhone 15 Plus is going to become obsolete at the speed of light.
Well... pick a number. Simply saying more is better is poor engineering (it's not even engineering) and would never fly developing products in the tech world. That would be viewed as lazy, and not even an analysis. You'd be quickly fired.
Especially as it has yet to be proven that what Apple offers in RAM is not sufficient. How do you *know* what Apple provides is inadequate?
As I've previously stated, I've experienced *no* slow downs or delays with my iPhones, with multiple apps open. Others here have corroborated with their experiences.
I'm fine sticking with my 15PM until it bites the dust. Still at 94% battery capacity after 241 cycles.
Not really becoming a thing again, just sometimes popular to invoke that older aesthetic for indie/hipster vibes. Also I think that’s why apple added that double tap to type to Siri button, since no matter how intelligent it could get nobody wants to speak to their phone in public.
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That new cooling vapor chamber sounds great! Definitely getting the 16 & 17 Pro Max
Worst case scenario you can replace the battery when the time comes and you don't have to buy a new iPhone and you end up saving some money.
When I said more RAM is always better, I'd say another 2-4GB would be a good number for the iPhone, for the aforementioned reasons. And no, this would not get me fired as an engineer. If that were the case, the engineers who suggested the leap from 6GB to 8GB of RAM would've been fired as well. But, alas, here we are with 8GB of RAM in the iPhone 15PM. Its baffling to me that you are a systems engineer and you think suggesting having more RAM would get you fired.
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May i propose reading this book: https://jasoneckert.github.io/myblog/cult-of-mac-book/ instead/also? It is a lot newer, from 2019.
It would get you fired. Quickly. I suspect it's baffling because you're not a systems engineer who has a lot of experience under your belt designing products.
It's lazy engineering (its not even engineering) because it's what's called a WAG (wild ass guess) without doing a proper analysis, backed up by running a load of experiments and collecting data, all in order to support your assertion of the proper amount of RAM needed.
It would be like an engineer at Ford Motor Company telling an auto project manager or the CEO that Ford should be selling cars with a five cylinder engine - because five cylinders is more than four, and thus better. With no analysis, prototypes, experiments, trials, beta testing etc. to back up your assertion. You would be promptly fired doing that.
Yep! Unless the 17PM is totally outrageous and different I'm good.
I know it's 2024 and everyone is offended, but even unreleased phones don't have feelings as of yet.
Of course I wouldn't just go up to the powers that be and say "this device needs more RAM, why, because I said so". I would do the testing and data collection to prove my case well before I ever made the suggestion, which would be very simple to do. You asked for examples of why more RAM is better, and I provided you with several. You're arguing that more RAM isn't always better, when it is. I've bench marked and load tested too many desktops, servers, and systems to count, and more RAM always lead to better overall system performance. You can test this yourself, very easily with any computer that has swappable memory, or if you have the ability to test it with a modern smartphone go for it. You being a systems engineer doesn't make you right, in fact in this case it makes you look foolish for arguing against this in the first place. Clearly, you just like to argue. By the way, I pat systems engineers on the head from time to time for a job well done, when it calls for it. You see, I'm a CIO. But, I do appreciate you dropping your cute job title in your posts so often. Time to put you on ignore. You have an excellent day now.
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I can imagine Apple's thinking - the iPhone Mini lead to lower revenues/profits (they had to charge less than the standard iPhone). So, let's make a Plus version and sell it for more that the regular version and we will tempt some people to upgrade from a regular iPhone to the iPhone plus and increase the revenues.
What I can imagine happening though is that a chunk of people actually downgraded from the Pro Max to the Plus (they only wanted screen size, not Pro features). The rumored response seems to be this iPhone Slim which may have an even higher price ("justified" by it being thin and light)
Their likely thought process is that if you have a group of people that want to buy a new iPhone Pro, a fraction of these will be pushed to the Pro Max despite the size and the remainder stick to buying the iPhone Pro. Their problem will come if a large chunk of that group who will not buy the larger size end up skipping the generation.
Confused….. why would an IOS device need this much RAM????
Just a day after a noted leaker on Chinese microblogging site Weibo suggested the iPhone 17 lineup in 2025 could see an upgrade to 12GB of RAM across the board, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has claimed that the upgrade will be limited to the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
If Kuo is correct, it means the smaller iPhone 17 Pro, the base iPhone 17, and the all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" will stick with the 8GB figure rumored for the entire iPhone 16 lineup this year. The fourth-generation iPhone SE expected in early 2025 will reportedly also carry 8GB of RAM.
The amount of RAM in Apple's devices is currently of increased importance, as Apple has judged that 8GB is the minimum required for the Apple Intelligence features coming in iOS 18, which means only the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max of Apple's current phones will support them. The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus carry only 6GB of RAM.
While a move to 8GB across the board starting with next month's iPhone 16 lineup will enable all new iPhones to support Apple Intelligence going forward, a further bump to 12GB would likely allow for even more powerful AI capabilities, but it now appears that may be limited to Apple's highest-end model in 2025.
Aside from the increased 12GB of RAM, Kuo says the iPhone 17 Pro Max will also have an exclusive cooling system combining vapor chamber technology with graphite sheets. The other new iPhone models launching in 2025 will rely solely on graphite sheets for cooling.
Article Link: Kuo: Next Year's Upgrade to 12GB RAM Will Be Limited to iPhone 17 Pro Max
Because some of us power users have more than one or two apps open at a time.
I bought my iPhone 15 Plus last September. Since I plan to turn off AI whenever I am given the option (just like I have Siri turned off), I think I’ll do just fine. Artificial Intellence will help us with many big things, like medical research, weather forecasting, maybe even climate change. But on a phone? All I see are cheap parlor tricks. Thanks… but no thanks.
Straw man argument... and you know it. No one is calling for that… and you know that, too. But not all iPhone users will be interested in AI - particularly with the abilities we are being offered so far.
That seems to be an open question that I have been asking: Will the extra RAM be dedicated to AI only in new Apple devices? Or if you turn off AI, do you get to enjoy the benefits of more RAM? I suspect even if it’s the latter, developers will come to rely on AI for more and more things. So, as they years go by, even normal device operation will require more RAM to maintain speedy operation.
We're talking about iPhones. Not general purpose computers. Don't change the subject.
And you still can't justify why more RAM is better for an iPhone, or pick the "proper" correct or amount based on any experiments/testing/etc.
Imagine trying to make a case to Craig Federighi or Tim Cook at Apple that more RAM is required for iPhone. And your response is more RAM is always better. With no data, experiments, testing, etc. to back up your claim.
Trust me Mr. Federighi and Mr. Cook. More RAM is just better.
Was going to upgrade my 14Pro to the 17Pro, but now waiting until 18 seems better.
Yeah, those Windows laptops with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD's for around $1000 is just damn lazy! Who would buy that when you can get 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD in a MacBook from Apple for the same price? Apple is the opposite of lazy by not giving us more? Pretzel-logic.
I have an iPhone 14 Pro and it looks like I’ll keep it another year.
For the first time in 13 years I really don’t give a crap if my next phone is Apple or otherwise. They offer nothing these days besides ripping people off for RAM alone.
For the first time in 13 years I really don’t give a crap if my next phone is Apple or otherwise. They offer nothing these days besides ripping people off for RAM alone.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
I personally have not had ANY issues using my iPhone 12 Pro, so any subsequent iPhone (Pro or not) will exceed my expectations and needs.
Thus, I'll get whatever iPhone exists once this one dies, regardless of RAM amount in the phone.
And why do we even call it a "phone" anymore... Who uses this primarily as a phone aside from us old folks?
Thus, I'll get whatever iPhone exists once this one dies, regardless of RAM amount in the phone.
And why do we even call it a "phone" anymore... Who uses this primarily as a phone aside from us old folks?