Apple Intelligence on iPhone Will Benefit from Faster Memory
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Apple is working with Samsung, to change how RAM is packaged for the iPhone, with the goal of expanding bandwidth to help with AI tasks.
While most smartphones have RAM in the same package as the processor, Apple is looking to go against the norm. To provide more RAM, as well as speed up memory access for Apple's intelligence tasks, it now wants to put the RAM and processor on separate chips.
According to The Elec, Apple has asked Samsung to begin research into how best to package the DRAM memory used in the iPhone. The problem is that being in the same package as the processor only makes it faster up to a point.
To make faster RAM, Apple wants a larger DRAM package. But there are only a certain number of connectors on the processor side, and therefore only a certain amount of RAM that can be on a single chip.
So Samsung was tasked with how to create a larger DRAM package and connect it to the processor in the fastest possible way. A separate enclosure would also help with heat, as on-device AI is an intensive process that heats up chips.
Apple could reportedly instead opt for a type of high-bandwidth (HB) memory, which is often used in servers. But this appears to have been rejected, as there are difficulties in making it small enough to fit in a phone and also low-power enough to work with the phone’s battery.
The physical limitations of the iPhone are also a concern when using a separate or discrete enclosure for the RAM. Apple may have to reduce the size of its System on a Chip (SoC) processor and even its battery to accommodate the separate RAM.
While Samsung is said to have only just begun its research, Apple is believed to be planning to use the new method in the 2026 iPhone 18 lineup.
Elec is a decent source of information from Apple’s supply chain. He's less precise in the predictions he makes about what Apple will do.
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