We don’t expect the standard iPhone 18 to make its debut next month; however, that model is still on track for next spring’s launch as part of Apple’s plans to stagger its lower-end iPhone releases to the spring timeframe. Furthermore, it appears that the smartphone could have two Pro-level upgrades that customers are going to really appreciate.
According to analyst Jeff Pu, the (regular) iPhone 18 will feature 12GB of memory, up from the 8GB in the current iPhone 17. This would be a crucial upgrade because back at WWDC, Apple officially stated that 12GB of memory would be the minimum requirement to run Apple’s most powerful on-device model for even the most advanced Apple Intelligence features. Currently, both the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone Air have 12GB of memory. If this rumor turns out to be true, this would mean that the base iPhone will catch up with the Pro models in terms of memory.
It should be worth noting that this rumor conflicts with Ming-Chi Kuo’s report on the iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e, as he argued that those models, which are both expected to launch next spring, could have 9GB of RAM instead. Not only would it be a bare minimum spec bump, but they wouldn’t be able to run the most powerful on-device model. On the contrary, Pu agrees with Kuo that the lower-end iPhone 18e will feature 9GB of RAM. Additionally, and perhaps as expected, both models are expected to feature the A20 chip, which is rumored to be based on the more efficient 2nm process for the first time. I wouldn’t be surprised if the A20 chip on the iPhone 18e would still be a binned variant as we’ve seen on the iPhone 17e.
Pu also believed that the regular iPhone 18 will borrow a narrower Dynamic Island from the iPhone 18 Pro. Chinese leaker Ice Universe has backed this claim, as they also believe that the smaller Dynamic Island will make its way across the majority of the iPhone models going into 2027, namely:
- iPhone 18 Pro
- iPhone Ultra
- iPhone 18
- iPhone Air 2
As previously stated, both the iPhone 18 and the iPhone 18e are expected to be launched next spring.
