iPhone 14 Pro may get a RAM upgrade to match iPad Pro — Here's why

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By Sean Riley
published

Apple may finally be ready to up the ante on iPhone 14 Pro RAM

Renders of iPhone 14 based on alleged leaks
(Image credit: Front Page Tech/Renders By Ian)

The iPhone 14 Pro may still be months away from its launch, but the design and hardware are already locked in place which means leakers and supply chain analysts are ready to hold forth on what they see happening with Apple's next flagship.

A new rumor surfaced today from a user on the Korean blog Naver, indicating that the iPhone 14 Pro will feature 8GB of RAM (up from 6GB). It's a rumor we've seen previously from supply chain analyst Jeff Pu of Haitong International Securities, but he walked back that claim later based on potential cost concerns (via MacRumors).

One of the stronger arguments for the iPhone 14 Pro making the jump to 8GB of RAM is simply as a differentiator. The standard iPhone 14 models will allegedly join the Pro models with 120Hz ProMotion displays this year, eliminating one of the key marketing points to draw buyers into an upgrade. A step up from 6GB to 8GB of RAM isn't as sexy a spec to lure people in with, but it's another bullet point and Apple may leverage it for some exclusive software features. 

iPhone 13 Pro Max

(Image credit: Future)

That hits on another potentially important point, this should mean Apple will allow iOS developers to use more than just 5GB of RAM on the iPhone, just as we saw with iPadOS 15 on the iPad Pro. While the iPad Pro 2021 (12.9-inch) features either 8GB or 16GB of RAM, depending on your storage configuration, until the release of iPadOS only 15 apps could use a maximum of 5GB. Now it's an open question as to whether iPhone app developers need that extra RAM, but it's hard to argue that more RAM is a bad thing. At a minimum, it should further guarantee device longevity, another key advantage for Apple. 

Now if there's one thing we haven't found ourselves concerned with on the last few generations of iPhone it is performance, so a little bit of added RAM isn't likely going to have an earth-shattering impact in that regard. The iPhone is fast enough and (as much as iOS allows) handles multi-tasking well enough. If you've been considering the iPhone 13 Pro or 13 Pro Max, this isn't the rumor that should cause you to wait for the iPhone 14 Pro. The rumored camera upgrades are far more intriguing, but we'll be watching carefully when Apple's World Wide Developer Conference rolls around this year to see if we catch any mention of uncorking the 5GB RAM limit on iOS.

Sean Riley
Sean Riley

Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now. Most of that time was as a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart home devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more.  Sean is the resident mobile expert at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here. But Laptop Mag has also proven a perfect fit for that broad range of interests with reviews and news on the latest laptops, VR games, and computer accessories along with coverage on everything from NFTs to cybersecurity and more.