Apple Intelligence Storage Requirement on iPhone, iPad and Mac Silently Increased

Apple has updated the storage requirements for Apple Intelligence — its suite of artificial intelligence (AI) features. It will now require nearly double the storage space to run on Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad or Mac, compared to what was previously required. This is perhaps because several features part of the Apple Intelligence suite run locally on-device and related AI models need to be downloaded for them to function properly.

Apple Intelligence Storage Requirements

Apple has updated its support page for Apple Intelligence, which now states that at least 7GB of storage space is required on the iPhone, iPad, or Mac for the AI suite. The Cupertino-based technology giant first published the requirements to run Apple Intelligence alongside the rollout of the AI features with the iOS 18.1 update. At the time, the iPhone maker stated that 4GB of space was required for Apple Intelligence to work. However, it only carried a handful of additions like writing tools and web page summarisation which were first previewed at the WWDC 2025 in June.

Thus, it is speculated that the storage demands were in line with the initial release.

iOS 18.2, which arrived in December, brought other major AI features such as Image Playground and ChatGPT integration in Siri. Further, future iOS 18 updates are expected to expand this feature set with additions like contextual understanding in Siri, which is why Apple might be updating the storage requirements to run the AI suite.

Apple Intelligence Compatibility

Apple says its AI suite is compatible with the entire iPhone 16 lineup which comprises the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Further, two models from the iPhone 15 series — the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max — are also supported.

In addition to smartphones, the iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later models, and the Mac with M1 and later devices are eligible to run Apple Intelligence following the latest iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates, respectively.