Abstract:
Instant Digital, a whistleblower on Weibo, said that Apple had planned to equip the iPhone 18 Pro series and folding screen phone iPhone Duo with 16GB of memory, but later adjusted the plan. The news did not explain when Apple considered this configuration, nor did it explain the reasons for the change. Therefore, 16GB can only be regarded as an early planning rumor that has not been confirmed by Apple.
Currently, the memory capacity of iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max has been confirmed from the Xcode 27 development tool data. Both are 12GB, which is the same as the previous generation Pro model. The iPhone Duo has not yet appeared in relevant Xcode data; since it is powered by the same A20 Pro chip as the Pro series, it is also expected to have 12GB of memory, but this has not been independently verified. Apple’s official website announced two devices equipped with the A20 Pro, but did not list the memory capacity in the product specifications.
Apple released the iPhone 18 Pro series and iPhone Duo in September this year. According to officials, the two Pro models use the A20 Pro chip, and the memory bandwidth is 50% higher than the previous generation A19 Pro; Duo is Apple's first folding screen iPhone, using the same chip, equipped with a 7.6-inch internal screen and a 5.4-inch external screen, and supports Apple Intelligence and the new generation of Siri. Apple has announced that Duo will be available for pre-order on October 16th and will be available on October 23rd.
Apple Intelligence features continue to place increasing demands on device memory. Apple's support page shows that some devices running the new generation of Apple Intelligence need to be equipped with at least 12GB of unified memory, and reserve up to 14GB of storage space for device-side models; this shows that memory is an important hardware condition for local AI experience, but it does not prove that Apple has planned 16GB for a specific function.
Tight memory supply may be one of the reasons why Apple adjusts its configuration. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously said that DRAM shortages are affecting Apple's hardware shipment arrangements in 2026; supply chain reports on folding screen models using 12GB of memory also mentioned rising memory prices. However, neither Apple nor the whistleblower confirmed that the supply shortage led to the cancellation of the 16GB plan, and the specific reasons are still unclear.
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