iPhone 17 Air Could Be a Pro Model in Disguise, Here’s Why

Apple’s long-rumoured slim device, the iPhone 17 Air, may be one of the Pro models without the name. A new report suggests it will not just be thinner than the standard iPhone 17, but will pack a hardware feature that was previously reported to be exclusive to the iPhone 17 Pro models.

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 17 Air will come with not 8GB but 12GB of RAM. Only the Pro models in Apple’s upcoming iPhone lineup were previously expected to feature bumped-up RAM. However, if what Kuo said materialises, the iPhone 17 Air may offer performance similar to that of the Pro models.

Kuo said that the standard iPhone 17 may stick with 8GB of RAM like the iPhone 16, but he hinted that Apple might standardise RAM capacity across all models. That means even the iPhone 17 would come with 12GB of RAM. But that change depends on whether Apple has enough supply. Kuo said Apple will decide whether the standard model will have 12GB of RAM by next month based on information on “potential supply shortages.”

The current iPhone generation has 8GB of RAM across all models. That means the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, and iPhone 16e have 8GB of RAM. This, along with Apple’s new A18 and A18 Pro processors, allows Apple Intelligence features compatibility. Since the last-generation iPhone 15 Pro models also have 8GB of RAM, they also support Apple’s AI services. The regular iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus lack those features because they have 6GB of RAM.

Even if the iPhone 17 misses out on 12GB of RAM, Apple’s 2026 iPhones will have that as a standard. According to Kuo, the iPhone 18 models will adopt 12GB of RAM. A higher RAM capacity would allow the iPhones to perform Apple Intelligence functions faster and better, especially with Apple’s planned upgrades to the service.

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