Analyst says iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus to be equipped with more RAM, receive Wi-Fi upgrade

Per MacRumors, Haitong International Securities analyst Jeff Pu expects improved multitasking on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus this year. That's because he sees Apple equipping both 2024 non-Pro models with 8GB of RAM. This would be an increase from the 6GB of RAM found in the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. Pu also expects Apple to keep 8GB of RAM on the Pro variants. So if Pu is right, all four iPhone 16 models will feature 8GB of RAM this year.

For those unfamiliar with RAM, it stands for Random Access Memory and is temporary memory that is erased when we shut our phones off. Since frequently used apps and app data are stored in RAM, the larger the amount of RAM on your phone, the more capable your phone is when it comes to multitasking. But don't look at 8GB of RAM in iOS and compare it to the current 24GB of RAM offered on some new high-end Android phones. Differences in how the two platforms work mean that comparing the amount of RAM on an Android phone with an iOS phone is like comparing oranges with apples (see what we did there?)

Pu also expects the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Pro to get upgraded from using the Wi-Fi 6 standard to Wi-Fi 6E. The latter is what the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max currently support. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are expected to also get upgraded Wi-Fi from 6E to the recently unveiled Wi-Fi 7. The latter is about five times faster and features 2x the throughput allowing more signals to be sent and received without interference.

The non-Pro iPhone 16 models will be getting the Action Button this year which allows users to press a button to set off some action they select such as turning on the flashlight, opening the camera app, accessing an accessibility feature, and more. All four iPhone 16 models will be equipped with the new Capture Button which will reportedly be used to start recording videos.

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will keep the current 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch screen sizes compared to the rumored iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max screen sizes of 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch respectively. The iPhone 16 Pro should join the iPhone 16 Pro Max and  both will feature the Tetraprism periscope camera this year. The camera debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro Max last year. 

All four 2024 phones will feature an A18 chipset with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus powered by the A18 Bionic. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be powered by the more capable A18 Pro SoC. Both application processors will be made by TSMC using its 3nm process node.

There are only about eight months until the iPhone 16 line is unveiled and those months will go by in a snap.