As October approaches, Apple is gearing up for the big launch of Apple Intelligence. We already know that it requires 8GB of RAM to run, but now we’ve learned that it also needs a bit of storage.
According to a support document titled “Introducing Apple Intelligence on iPhone,” any iPhone running Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1 or later will need 4GB of storage dedicated to this feature. This effectively reduces entry-level storage from 128GB to 124GB for the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, and 16 Pro, and from 256GB to 252GB on the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
A footnote states that “storage requirements for on-device Apple Intelligence models will increase as more features are rolled out.” Presumably, this means unannounced features will arrive in iOS 19 and later, but it could mean that iOS 18 features coming next year, including next-gen Siri, may require more.
It’s unclear what the 4GB of space is for or why a similar document for the iPad doesn’t list the same requirement. The Mac isn’t mentioned either, except to say that an M1 and later processor is required.
Apple Intelligence will be rolled out in stages starting with iOS 18.1 next month. The first round of features will provide writing tools including text summaries and notifications, “a better, more conversational Siri” and better photo search. This will be followed by image creation features including Genmoji and Image Playground, as well as contextual Siri and ChatGPT integration.
