This Is The Main Reason Why The IPhone 17 Is Worth Waiting For

IPhone 17 will be equipped with 12GB RAM (photo; x @MacRumors)

JAKARTA- If you don't upgrade your phone every year and plan to buy an iPhone 16, an information leak with a solid track record, it just gives you a better reason to wait for the launch of the iPhone 17.

According to their post on Weibo, the iPhone 17 will be equipped with 12GB RAM, larger than the 8GB on the iPhone 16, which is required to provide significant benefits when using the Apple Intelligence feature.

Weibo users known as "Mobile phone chip experts" reported:

"If you want to switch to an iPhone with AI capabilities, maybe the iPhone 17 of 2025 is a good choice. This year's iPhone 16 only has 8GB of internal memory, especially for cloud-based AI. The iPhone 17 next year will have 12GB of internal memory, and there are more AI apps on the device."

Apple is gradually increasing RAM capacity. All iPhone 14 models have 6GB RAM, both Pro and not. For the iPhone 15, the basic model and Plus are supported by the A16 Bionic chip from the Pro model earlier year, and keep using 6GB RAM. Two Pro models not only get the A17 Pro chip, but also see their RAM being increased to 8GB.

Interestingly, only two Pro models are capable of running Apple Intelligence, which is likely due to a combination of processor power and RAM. This is supported by the fact that all four iPhone 16 models are expected to get 8GB of RAM.

AI Will Be Improved Next Year

MPCE hints that the shift to 12GB RAM is due to Apple's plans to support more Apple Intelligence features on devices, with fewer functions dependent on cloud processing.

If the iPhone 17 can run more AI functions locally, while other iPhones should use Apple's Private Cloud Compute (PCC) server, this could make next year's models faster in using some Apple Intelligence features, and safer.

"Mobile phone chip experts" have a limited track record but are good in terms of Apple's chip plans. Those who first revealed that the A16 processor will be exclusive to two iPhone 14 Pro models, and recently that Apple is developing its own 3nm chip for its AI server. This means that the suggestion that next year's iPhone will get 12GB RAM should be taken seriously.

Whether it has significant implications for Apple Intelligence is still speculative. The leak clearly has visibility into Apple's supply chain, but it won't tell them why certain changes are being made.

Even so, this seems to be a solid theory, and consistent with Apple's preferences for on-device processing whenever possible, as well as strong clues that RAM is an important factor in running Apple Intelligence.

Of course, in the end it all depends on how long you are willing to wait to get access to Apple Intelligence. If you don't currently have an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, then you'll need to upgrade this year unless you're willing to wait 12 more months. However, given that we don't expect Siri to just roll out until next year, waiting until next September may not be too painful.