The iOS 27 operating system was officially launched at WWDC 2026, featuring upgrades to Apple Intelligence. However, it appears that iPhone 17 owners may not be able to use some of the advanced AI features.
Back in June 2024, Apple introduced Apple Intelligence on iOS 18 with strict hardware requirements, supporting only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
This decision excluded the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models from AI feature access, which surprised many since Apple typically supports older devices with new software.
Many predicted this was a temporary situation because the early on-device AI system required a minimum of 8GB RAM, causing standard models with lower specs to miss out.
However, with iOS 27, a similar scenario is unfolding. Apple introduced new AI features that the latest standard iPhone 17 cannot support. Two key features unavailable on the iPhone 17 are the on-device AI models of iOS 27 and the new AI-powered Siri voice customization.
The main reason remains RAM capacity; the standard iPhone 17 has only 8GB RAM, while the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max come with 12GB RAM, likely affecting devices in this group.iPadand Mac devices will also require at least 12GB of RAM to use these features.
Source:9to5Mac