You'll have to buy an iPhone 17 Pro Max to get one of the biggest spec upgrades in years, analyst claims

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It'll be the only iPhone with 12GB of RAM.

iPhone 15 Pro with a titanium finish running iOS 17
(Image credit: Gerald Lynch / Future / Apple)

Following recent reports that the entire iPhone 17 lineup would benefit from a RAM upgrade to 12GB per device, a new report by supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that things might not be quite that simple.

Writing in a post on the X social network Kuo says that the 12GB of RAM boost will only be available on Apple's best iPhone, leaving people with the option of buying the iPhone 17 Pro Max or settling for less RAM in their handset.

If this turns out to be accurate, those buying an iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Slim/Air, or iPhone 17 Pro will receive handsets with 8GB of RAM inside. That'll be enough to handle Apple Intelligence, but the iPhone 17 Pro Max will have 50% more RAM to aid performance.

All the RAM

Kuo's X post says that it "can be expected that stronger device-side AI will be the main selling point of iPhone 17 Pro Max." He also confirmed that the other iPhones, including the rumored iPhone SE 4, will have just 8GB of RAM.

Apple Intelligence requires at least 8GB of RAM so there is no doubt all of the new handsets will support the technology, but it's possible that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will offer even more advanced AI capabilities thanks to the additional RAM on offer. However, it's also possible that the RAM could be used elsewhere including more advanced photography and videography features.

The report also claims that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will sport a new heat dissipation solution, while the other models will make do with a less-capable graphite sheet solution.

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Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.