During its recent WWDC 2026 event, Apple revealed a major shift for the next generation of its smart features. While many users will get to try out the updated Apple Intelligence on older devices, the most demanding local tasks now have a much higher memory requirement. This means anyone wanting the fastest responses from the new Siri AI will need to upgrade to specific new hardware.
It is bumping the base requirement from eight gigabytes of memory to twelve gigabytes for peak local processing.
Maximum local speed requires newer phones with more system memory
The tech giant is setting a strict line for which devices get to run the heavy AI models directly on the hardware. It now demands 12GB of memory for these top-tier tasks. This excludes the base iPhone 17 model because it only ships with 8GB of memory.
If you want the best processing speed without waiting on cloud servers, you must own one of the following products:
- The iPhone 17 Pro
- The iPhone Air
- An iPad with an M4 chip or newer, provided it has at least 12GB of memory
- A Mac with an M3 chip or newer, provided it has at least 12GB of memory
Older models rely on slower cloud servers for heavy tasks
People with older hardware will not be left out entirely. The company will still provide access to the same major features for those users. However, these devices lack the memory needed to handle the computation locally.
Instead, these devices will lean heavily on Private Cloud Compute. Sending data to external servers naturally takes more time than processing it right on the device. Users will notice slower response times compared to the hardware that meets the 12GB memory threshold.
Ultimately, anyone wanting the fastest possible experience will have to buy into the latest hardware cycle to keep data processing strictly on their device.
