With Apple’s big iPhone 17 event on September 9th just around the corner, TrendForce, a trusted tech source, has published a comprehensive report outlining its latest expectations for the new series. The report highlights significant upgrades to the iPhone 17’s RAM and storage capacities, demonstrating that Apple is preparing for a new era focused on artificial intelligence.
The iPhone 17 will be bold with its RAM
According to TrendForce’s report, all iPhone 17 series, except the standard model, will see a significant memory (RAM) increase to meet the growing demands of artificial intelligence and on-device processing. Here are the expected RAM capacities by model:
- iPhone 17: 8GB (same as iPhone 16)
- iPhone 17 Air: 12GB (up from 8GB in the iPhone 16 Plus)
- iPhone 17 Pro: 12GB (up from 8GB in the iPhone 16 Pro)
- iPhone 17 Pro Max: 12GB (up from 8GB in the iPhone 16 Pro Max)
This increase signals that the Air and Pro models will offer much smoother performance, particularly with multitasking and advanced AI features.
Standards Are Changing: 128GB of Storage Is Becoming History
On the storage front, Apple appears to be raising the starting level in response to user expectations. The 128GB option is being removed entirely for the Air and Pro models, and the starting capacity is being increased to 256GB.
- iPhone 17: 128GB / 256GB / 512GB
- iPhone 17 Air: 256GB / 512GB / 1TB (Increased starting storage)
- iPhone 17 Pro: 256GB / 512GB / 1TB (Increased starting storage)
- iPhone 17 Pro Max: 256GB / 512GB / 1TB
This move clearly differentiates the iPhone 17 Air from the standard model. TrendForce suggests that this previously unannounced storage increase could lead to a higher-than-expected price for the iPhone 17 Air. Apple is expected to offset the potential price increase with a doubling of the starting storage.
