Every iPhone 16 model seemingly has 8GB of RAM, which could be bad news for Apple Intelligence

Ahead of the launch of the iPhone 16 series, one thing we heard rumored was that all four models would have 8GB of RAM, and – while Apple never reveals RAM amounts in its phones – it seems that claim was probably right.

MacRumors – with assistance from @iSWUpdates – claims to have found mention of 8GB of RAM for all four models in the latest version of Xcode 16 (an Apple tool for developers).

That would be a 2GB boost for the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Plus, but it would mean that the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max have the same amount of RAM as their predecessors.

An issue for AI

The iPhone 16 Pro Max (Image credit: Apple)

That latter point is slightly disappointing, especially since Apple Intelligence is likely to need quite a lot of RAM – especially for the stuff that’s handled on device. For comparison, the Google Pixel 9 line comes with between 12GB and 16GB of RAM to help handle all of the many AI features on those phones.

Of course, we still can’t quite take this leak as a confirmation that every iPhone 16 model has 8GB of RAM. We’ll have to wait for teardowns for that, but we’d say it’s very likely accurate.

For one thing, Xcode files have accurately revealed RAM amounts in previous iPhone models, and for another, it makes sense that the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus at least would have 8GB, since the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus don’t support Apple Intelligence, and that’s likely at least in part because they only have 6GB of RAM.

That again though shows how important plenty of RAM probably is for Apple’s AI, so it will be interesting to see whether the Pro models feel less than Pro when carrying out AI tasks.

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