Apple Intelligence is coming soon as part of iOS 18.1. When it does, you may need to free up some extra storage on your iPhone. Here are the storage requirements for Apple Intelligence at launch, and why they will increase over time.
4GB Storage Requirement for iPhone 16 and Later
According to a document published by Apple and included in the latest iOS 18.1 beta, Apple Intelligence will have specific storage requirements when it launches.
Here's what the document, which is under the “Supported Devices” section, says:
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Apple Intelligence is available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, all iPhone 16 models, and iPad and Mac models with M1 and later. iPhones require 4GB of storage*.
We now know that you’ll need 4GB of storage to install and use Apple Intelligence features. That’s on top of the storage required to install the iOS 18.1 update itself.
Interestingly, only iPhones are mentioned as having a 4GB storage requirement.
Perhaps there are different requirements for iPad and Mac. Or maybe there’s some other reason Apple has chosen not to share this information.
You may have noticed the asterisk at the end of the quote. That’s because 4GB is just a starting point for the initial set of AI features.
Future Apple Intelligence Features Require More Storage
Best comment by bcom77
I may have missed some details, but do you really need Apple Intelligence on your phone at all? By that I mean, is it an optional extra or will it be integrated into iOS18 in a future update for devices that can support it?
If this is something that is clearly going to continue to evolve and will likely continue to need more storage, then 128GB may start to look like the new 64GB in terms of an insufficient baseline storage amount for many users.
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In a footnote at the end of Apple's documentation, “On-device storage requirements for Apple Intelligence models will increase as new features are deployed.”
It's unclear exactly how much additional storage further AI models might require. It wouldn't surprise me if the starting requirements double over time, reaching 8GB within a year.
However, if you tend to keep your iPhone storage pretty full, it might be time to start identifying what cuts you can make to free up space. Or, if you're in the market for a new iPhone 16 or 16 Pro, maybe avoid the 128GB options this year.
Are you concerned about Apple Intelligence storage requirements? Let us know in the comments.
