Almost a week after the big presentation of the iPhone 16 series, Apple has finally confirmed one of the key specifications of these new flagship phones: all models in the range are equipped with 8 GB of RAM.
As spotted by 9to5Mac, Apple executive Johny Srouji confirmed the 8GB figure in an interview with Geekerwan. Apple doesn't list RAM on the official spec sheets for its iPhones, for some reason, so it usually requires some investigative work to establish how much memory these phones have.
A few days ago, code spotted in an official Apple developer tool suggested that all iPhone 16 models were indeed equipped with 8GB of RAM, and now we have confirmation. Last year, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max had 8GB of RAM inside, while the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus made do with 6GB.
That means it's an upgrade to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, but the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max don't get any additional RAM this year. It also means there's less of a distinction between the standard and Pro models.
Specifications compared
The lack of a RAM increase is a little disappointing, especially considering that Apple Intelligence is about to roll out – AI tasks take up a lot of memory, especially when processing is done on-device, so the extra RAM definitely helps there.
This also means that Apple’s phones are way behind their Android competitors when it comes to this particular specification. The newly released Google Pixel 9, for example, is equipped with 12GB of RAM, and while the Samsung Galaxy S24 has 8GB of RAM inside, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra ups that amount to 12GB.
These basic specs don't necessarily tell the whole story, though: because Apple has complete control over every part of the iPhone's design and architecture, it can often add optimizations and tweaks that make up for lower-tier specs. Battery capacity is another example of this: iPhones can often match their rivals when it comes to battery life, even with smaller batteries.
With iOS 18 launching tomorrow and Apple Intelligence appearing shortly after, we'll have to wait and see how those 8GB of RAM affect software performance. In the meantime, check out our hands-on review of the iPhone 16.
