Apple's Most Powerful On-Device AI Now Requires iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone Air
Apple's most advanced on-device AI model in iOS 27 requires a minimum of 12GB of unified memory, meaning the standard iPhone 17 is excluded.
The next generation of Apple Intelligence introduces a new on-device model more powerful than anything Apple has shipped before. While most iOS 27 AI features run on the same hardware supported today, including iPhone 15 Pro, the most capable model carries stricter requirements. To run Apple's most powerful on-device model, users will need one of the following devices:
- iPhone: iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, or iPhone 17 Pro Max
- iPad: iPad with M4 or later with at least 12GB of unified memory
- Mac: Mac with M3 or later with at least 12GB of unified memory
- Vision Pro: Apple Vision Pro with M5
The base iPhone 17 is excluded because it ships with 8GB of memory, falling short of the 12GB threshold. The standard memory requirement for Apple Intelligence has been 8GB since its introduction, so this marks the first time Apple has raised the bar for its most capable on-device features.
According to Apple's press release, the new model specifically enables features including expressive voices and more advanced dictation.
Popular Stories
Apple briefly published a support guide in China explaining how Mac users can connect Alibaba's Qwen AI to Siri and Writing Tools, before pulling it entirely less than a day later.
Reuters first spotted the Chinese-language guide on Apple's support site on August 8, which explained how eligible Mac users in mainland China could connect Qwen, Alibaba's family of generative AI models, to Siri...
Reuters reports that Apple has trained its own large language model for the China market, rather than relying on a third-party model to power its Apple Intelligence features in the country.
The LLM has been developed with the help of Alibaba, according to the report's sources. The development marks a break from Apple's previous strategy of relying on domestic models to bring generative AI to ...
Apple could raise iPhone 17 prices as soon as Monday, August 10, according to a new rumor, well before the wider round of increases expected with next month's iPhone 18 Pro launch.
Weibo leaker "Fixed Focus Digital" said in a post yesterday that rumors are circulating about an iPhone 17 price change taking effect on August 10. The leaker was noncommittal about whether prices will actually...
