Apple is reportedly collaborating with Samsung to enhance AI capabilities on future iPhones, according to The Elec. This partnership aims to implement hardware improvements that would accelerate AI processing on Apple devices.
These upgrades are expected to debut with the iPhone 18, slated for release in 2026.
Partnership between Apple and Samsung
Apple’s AI capabilities on iPhones already require a minimum of the A17 Pro processor and 8GB of RAM to function effectively. However, the company anticipates that future AI advancements will demand even higher performance.
To address this, reports suggest Apple is exploring a partnership with Samsung, one of its main rivals, to improve how RAM operates on iPhones. The goal would be to increase memory bandwidth, enabling faster AI processing on mobile devices.
According to The Elec, Apple has reportedly asked Samsung to research ways to allocate larger DRAM memory in iPhones. Currently, the RAM is limited due to its placement near the chip. By separating the RAM from the processor, the iPhone could run cooler, as AI features require intensive processing.
Initially, Apple considered adopting high-bandwidth (HB) memory, a technology commonly used in servers. However, this type of memory is not yet small enough to fit within an iPhone’s compact design. Using it would likely force Apple to reduce the size of other components, such as the battery—a trade-off the company is not ready to make at this stage.
The new feature would arrive on iPhone 18
According to the report, Samsung has recently begun researching this new memory design, aligning with Apple’s plans to potentially introduce the technology with the iPhone 18 in 2026.
For now, it’s a development worth monitoring, as this shift could impact the battery capacity or even require changes to the size of the chips within iPhones. The balance between performance improvements and hardware design constraints will be critical as this collaboration progresses.
