The iPhone 18 will probably look like the iPhone 17, but with more performance improvements.
The iPhone 18 could get a performance gain from memory, with Apple rumored to be using a new faster memory option in the 2026 releases.
Memory is an important part of computing, especially for mobile devices like the iPhone and for AI applications. If a leaker is correct, Apple Intelligence could get a considerable boost in 2026.
As part of a leak involving the memory of the iPhone 17, Weibo leaker “Digital Chat Station” posted on Tuesday about the iPhone 18 series. According to the social media account’s supply chain sources, the iPhone 18 will be the first to launch with 6-channel LPDDR5X memory, and a larger package.
The change should significantly increase the memory bandwidth, thereby increasing performance in various ways, such as making multitasking faster and for users to more quickly switch between apps. This can potentially speed up responses for Apple Intelligence tasks and on-device processing of Siri queries, too.
While Digital Chat Station has a reasonably good track record when it comes to Apple products in general, the issue here is that it’s a claim for a model that’s a year and a half away from being introduced. That’s still a considerable amount of time for Apple to make major changes to the iPhone 18’s specifications, including the memory.
Bigger package and bandwidth
While fewer in number than rumors for the upcoming iPhone 17 generation, there have been some previous discussions about memory and performance improvements in the iPhone 18.
This has included an October 2024 claim that the A20 chip that should be included in the iPhone 18 will use a new Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module. It’s a packaging technique that works with multiple dies, and enables separate dies to be fit together for more configuration options.
The upshot is that Apple could potentially use the same CPU across the board, but include different GPUs, and even memory configurations, as part of the chip package.
In December 2024, it was reported that Apple was working with Samsung to change how RAM is packaged, so that bandwidth could be increased. At the time, it was expected that a memory change was to take place for the iPhone 18.
The memory bandwidth boost would be in tandem with other improvements to the chip, such as a prediction that the A20 could use a 2-nanometer process, helping increase overall responsiveness.
