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Apple Intelligence now requires almost double the iPhone storage on latest models

iOS 27 launched this week with a major overhaul to Apple Intelligence. And while many iPhones have the same AI storage requirements as before, for certain models you’ll need nearly double the free storage.

Newer iPhone models require up to 14GB storage for Apple Intelligence features in iOS 27, up from 8GB

Apple Intelligence wasn’t necessarily the hit Apple was hoping for when it launched in 2024. But the next-generation AI features in iOS 27 have a great shot at proving more popular.

Siri AI, for example, is a huge upgrade over the old Siri. For a sampling, here are 100+ things it can now do.

Impressively, Apple has managed to deliver these new AI features with the same device storage requirements as before for most users: 8GB.

However, on certain iPhone models that support the most advanced on-device AI models, you’ll need nearly double the free storage.

Per Apple’s new support document, you need up to 14GB free storage on the newest iPhone models to get all of iOS 27’s AI features. This higher requirement applies to:

  • iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max
  • iPhone Duo
  • iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max
  • iPhone Air

The reason these iPhones need more storage is that they offer two advanced AI capabilities not available on other models:

  1. Siri AI voice customization for expressivity and pace
  2. Improved accuracy for dictation

These features require Apple’s more powerful on-device model, and thus take up additional storage on your device.

For all other iPhone models, up to 8GB of storage is all you’ll need for iOS 27’s AI features.

What do you think of iOS 27’s new AI features so far? Let us know in the comments.

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Avatar for Ryan Christoffel Ryan Christoffel

Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.