A new report from respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e could arrive with an unusual memory configuration that has rarely been seen in smartphones.

According to the report, both devices are expected to launch next spring with 9GB of RAM. While the increase itself is noteworthy, the way Apple may achieve it is even more interesting. Rather than using conventional memory arrangements, the company is reportedly planning to utilize six 1.5GB memory dies to reach the total capacity.

This would differ from the memory setup rumored for the current-generation iPhone 17 and iPhone 17e, which are said to use four 2GB memory dies. Although the increase from 8GB to 9GB may appear modest on paper, it could provide additional headroom for Apple’s growing suite of artificial intelligence features.

The report claims the extra memory is intended primarily to improve the performance and responsiveness of Apple Intelligence, Apple’s AI platform that powers on-device and cloud-assisted features across its ecosystem.

The higher-end models in the lineup are expected to receive a more significant upgrade. The iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the foldable iPhone Ultra are reportedly set to feature 12GB of RAM. These devices would allegedly use eight 1.5GB memory dies to achieve the larger capacity.

On the processor side, the standard iPhone 18 and iPhone 18e are expected to be powered by Apple’s A20 chipset. Meanwhile, the premium models, including the Pro variants and the iPhone Ultra, are rumored to receive the more powerful A20 Pro processor.

If the report proves accurate, the iPhone 18 series would mark another step in Apple’s gradual expansion of memory capacities across its smartphone lineup. As AI-powered features become increasingly important to the user experience, additional RAM is expected to play a key role in supporting more advanced on-device processing and multitasking capabilities.

As always, these details remain unofficial until Apple makes an announcement, but the rumored 9GB configuration could become one of the more unusual hardware decisions in recent iPhone history.