Apple‘s ambitions in on-device artificial intelligence (AI) for iPhones have suffered a setback due to insufficient RAM. According to a renowned analyst, the iPhone 16‘s 8GB RAM is proving too low to develop on-device LLMs (Large Language Models) at a pace the company would have liked. As such, it may not announce the project at WWDC 2024, which begins today, June 10.
Low RAM causing Apple problems with on-device iPhone AI
Apple has always focused on what iPhones can do over the specs powering them. The tight integration between hardware and software means iPhones often outperform competing Android phones with better on-paper specs. So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are the first models to feature 8GB RAM. The other two models still only have 6GB RAM.
The Cupertino-based company is upgrading the base models to 8GB RAM this year, but the Pro models aren’t getting another RAM boost. And this may not be a wise decision if we are to believe the renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. According to Kuo, Apple is developing an in-house LLM for on-device and cloud-based AI features for iPhones but is struggling to amp up the development.
In a Medium blog, the analyst shared his thoughts and insights into the firm’s plans for WWDC 2024 and the new iPhones. He pointed out that training LLMs in the cloud is difficult and takes more time. However, Apple’s on-device LLM has suffered a setback because the iPhone 16’s 8GB RAM is insufficient. The company may not talk much about it at its upcoming annual developers’ conference commencing today.
There have been rumors that Apple aims to store LLMs on the flash memory to support more on-device AI features without going overboard with the RAM amount on iPhones. However, based on Kuo’s report, the company doesn’t seem to have made a breakthrough yet. Perhaps it’s a distant dream, as the iPhone 17 series, or at least the Pro models, looks set for a RAM boost to 12GB.
AI features aren’t coming to many old iPhones
While Samsung rolled out Galaxy AI to all flagships launched in 2022 and beyond (some features also reached 2021 models), Apple’s AI features aren’t coming to many old iPhones. Devices with 8GB RAM, i.e., the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, are only compatible. All eyes are now on WWDC, aka Worldwide Developers Conference. The conference kicks off at 10:00 a.m. PT/01:00 p.m. ET/05:00 p.m. GMT and runs through June 14.
2024-06-10 15:06:53