Report: 2026 iPhone will prioritize AI upgrades by reworking RAM setup

Apple has been working on new iPhones for years, and a new report today details a noteworthy internal change for the 2026 iPhone 18 series.

Apple moves to discrete RAM in iPhones to prioritize on-device artificial intelligence

iPhone 16 is known as the first model “built from the ground up” for artificial intelligence. But it’s no surprise that future iPhones will make more changes to optimize for a future dominated by artificial intelligence.

Li Shuozhenyu electric power company Write:

Samsung has begun research into changing the packaging method for the low-power double data rate DRAM used in the iPhone. The South Korean tech giant is trying to change LPDDR’s integrated circuit (IC) to a discrete package, sources said, at Apple’s request. This means that the LPDDR will be packaged separately (i.e. discretely) from the system semiconductor. Cupertino plans to apply this change starting in 2026… The change in discrete packaging is to expand the memory bandwidth for AI on the device.

Historically, Apple has used a PoP (package-on-package) RAM setup in its iPhones. This means it has been stacked on top of the main system die.

This approach has several advantages, but electric power company Please note that this is not necessarily the best setting for the artificial intelligence on the device.

PoP is not the best choice for on-device AI. Bandwidth is determined by data transmission speed, data bus width and data transmission channel. Bus width and channels are determined by the number of I/O pins. To increase pin count, packages need to become larger. But in PoP, the memory size is determined by the SoC, which limits the number of I/O pins on the package.

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Discrete packaging also provides better thermal regulation. The parallel processing of on-device artificial intelligence generates a lot of heat. Memory has a larger surface allowing heat to spread over a wider surface.

Apple has used discrete packaging on Macs and iPads in the past, but since the M1 transitioned to Apple silicon, it has also used a PoP setup. This change for iPhone is likely to appear on Mac and iPad as well.

9to5Mac’s Opinion

The report strongly hints at one thing: Apple must anticipate huge demands for RAM in future iPhones as artificial intelligence features are being developed on the device.

Apple information only recently debutedBut as Apple and the rest of the tech world have made clear, artificial intelligence will play a major role in our computing future. No matter what Apple does now with new software, its 2026 iPhone 18 hardware needs to be ready.

Are you surprised by this report? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.

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