iPhone 16 Series May Fall Short on AI; Insiders Suggest to Wait for iPhone 17

Apple Intelligence is all the rage and the one thing why we desperately wait for the iPhone 16 family. But memory restrictions will be a major letdown. It’s the same reason they told people there won’t be an AI update for the older iPhones. Less RAM badly affects AI workloads. We hear their iPhone 17 line should deal with AI tasks far better.

There’s a Weibo leaker from China whose tip about new iPhones is going viral. He said in that post if people want to get hooked on Apple’s AI, this year’s iPhones aren’t the best choice. You’ll get only 8 GB RAM this time. That means you have to deal with janky cloud AI.

Apple AI will be in the second generation by the time their iPhone 17 lineup lands in 2025. Because they have the prospect of 12 GB RAM (from Jeff Pu’s Leak), they have a much better shot at onboard AI. But iPhone 16 options with max 8 GB RAM simply won’t cut it in the AI race.

Cloud AI computing in the old Apple fashion should be reliable enough. Fans know that Apple steps into the game only at its strongest. It doesn’t matter if it’s late. But there are other factors for you to worry about. There are your privacy concerns if cloud AI is in play.

There’s a small pool of iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max users with a fondness for AI. And they might think the Apple iPhone 16 series will be a worthy upgrade for just that purpose. Even with the enhanced NPU, these phones won’t fully use onboard AI bottlenecked by 8 GB RAM. Weibo leaker says they are better off waiting for the next iPhone 17 series.