Apple may not be bringing Apple Intelligence to iPhone 15, which has 6GB of RAM vs. iPhone 15 Pro's 8GB, due to RAM requirements for on-device AI processing
Older iPhones might well be able to cope with Apple's AI, so why won't your $900 year-old model run it? Here's why.
If the reported requirement holds, iPhone 15 and 15 Plus owners would be excluded from Apple Intelligence features that the 15 Pro models can run, despite being from the same generation.
Apple’s Pro-tier hardware advantage would extend to AI capability, with RAM becoming a practical feature boundary for current buyers.
Second-order effects
Apple must manage a more fragmented installed base for Apple Intelligence, determining which experiences can be offered consistently across devices with different memory ceilings.
The split raises the value of memory headroom in upgrade decisions and gives competing handset makers another reason to emphasize on-device AI hardware specifications.
Third-order effects
If on-device models continue to set higher memory floors, AI support may become a shorter-lived entitlement than general operating-system support, tightening the link between feature access and hardware refresh cycles.
The trend: On-device AI is turning RAM and other local compute resources from largely invisible specifications into explicit product-tier and feature-eligibility gates.
I kinda wish Apple announced Apple Intelligence in September with the launch of the iPhone 16 series. It's highly likely that all iPhone 16 models will support it. iOS 18 is effictively the iPhone 16 OS with it being on the iPhone 15 series effectively a form of “legacy support”…
Apple's announcement that Apple Intelligence is free to use, starting with the iPhone 15 Pro, is significant. It means your device will gain AI capabilities without additional fees. Owning an iPhone 15 Pro or later gives you perpetual access to these AI features. Should other …
Hot take! Apple Intelligence will not be good in the beginning. It may take few iterations of improvements and HW improving for it to be decent. It will also struggle to work decently on both iPhone 15 Pro and entry level macBooks with 8GB of RAM. …
Apple is one of the few companies that has a clear path to monetizing AI for consumers. There's a potentially compelling new reason to upgrade your iPhone besides yet another camera. The question is whether Apple Intelligence will work as well in practice as it demos? [image]
This approach may work against Apple as it now gives Android the ability to differentiate by leveraging the cloud for AI without the pesky user need to buy a more expensive smartphone. https://www.wired.com/...
A deeper dive into Apple Intelligence with @ijustine leading the conversation with Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea. “The core foundational models need huge amount of compute.” Which is why iPhone 15 does not support Apple Intelligence. [image]
Me getting lowkey excited for Apple Intelligence features on my phone this fall just to realize I can't even use them there unless I upgrade to an iPhone 15 Pro or higher [image]
Apple Intelligence uses both on-device and cloud processing. But it will only work on iPhone 15 Pro and higher, which means vanilla iPhone 15 is out of the picture. Why not give the option for lower-end devices to use more cloud resources (other than forcing you to upgrade)? [ima…
To use Apple Intelligence, you need an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max. A regular iPhone 15 won't do, meaning a mobile well under a year old is, at least in this specific sense, obsolete. Mac users just need an Apple Silicon computer, meaning one released in 2020 or newer
I think @markgurman is calling this slightly too conservatively; a supercycle will *begin* with iPhone 16, but it will *peak* 2-4 years in. Apple Intelligence will only work on iPhone 15 and up, and *many* people are still running iPhone 11-14.
On-device processing uses up to around 4.2GB of RAM. (see link below) iPhone 15 only has 6GB of total RAM, with only 5.53GB available to use (shown in GB6 stats) The iPhone 16 will likely support Apple Intelligence, seeing as it'll get 8GB of RAM. https://x.com/...
Anyone pointing out that Apple Intelligence is not coming to the iPhone 15, only to the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max? Not even the 14 Pro and Pro Max will get it. [image]
To use Apple Intelligence, you need an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max. That's because the hashtag#AI processing is done locally, which is great for security compared to cloud services but bad for all the folks with older and less powerful iPhones. https://www.wired.com/...
Its Unacceptable that only iphone 15 pros are getting clean up, apples version of magic eraser I understand apple intelligence has a ram limitation issue but not having basic AI features that can work in an iphone 8 using the google photos app is so unacceptable. iPhone 13 and [i…