If the 2025 iPhones Get 12 GB of RAM, Why Not the iPads?

I'm going to go ahead and make a prediction: the upcoming iPad Pro with the M5 chip will be upgraded to 12 to 16 GB of RAM. This is based on nothing but a rumor — the same one suggesting the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro will jump from 8 GB to 12 GB of RAM — but it makes sense. If the upgrade doesn't happen this year, it'll almost certainly happen next year.

Let’s be real: 8 GB just isn’t cutting it anymore — not in the age of AI.

Apple was late to the AI game. Way late. While companies like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft were rapidly pushing forward with LLM-powered features, Apple’s AI presence was mostly background stuff — Photos, auto-categorization, etc. Meanwhile, Siri was stuck spinning its wheels while ChatGPT and others raced ahead.

Apple had to scramble to catch up. And when it did, it likely ran into a hard limitation: RAM.

From my experience running a few LLMs on a MacBook Air with 16 GB of RAM, I can tell you — even that can feel tight. Apple’s own models might be more efficient, sure, but even 8 GB probably isn’t enough for what they want to do going forward.

Need more evidence? Apple no longer sells Macs with 8 GB of RAM. For years, they insisted 8 GB was “enough” thanks to tight integration between hardware and software. That was probably true — before the AI boom. But now, with LLMs and AI features becoming core to the experience, 8 GB just doesn't cut it.

And let’s not forget the delay of Apple Intelligence features — especially Siri. It’s a sign that Apple might have underestimated just how much performance and memory these new features require.

Which brings me to this: after years of wondering what the purpose of a 16 GB iPad Pro was, we may finally have an answer — Apple Intelligence.

Now the question becomes whether the upcoming base iPad Pro will get 12 GB or 16 GB of RAM. The tech enthusiast in me hopes for 16 GB, but knowing Apple — and considering its hardware-software optimization — it might try to get by with 12 GB. Still, I'm betting on 16 GB. Why? Because it also gives Apple a convenient excuse to raise prices, especially with rising costs and renewed pressure from Trump-era tariffs.

So what does that mean for the iPad? Simple: a RAM upgrade is coming. If Apple wants Apple Intelligence to run smoothly across its product lineup — iPads included — it needs more RAM. The iPhone 17 Pro is rumored to get 12 GB. That likely reflects the minimum Apple has determined is needed to run its next-gen features efficiently.

Bottom line: the future of Apple hardware is AI-first, and that means more memory across the board — starting with the iPad Pro.

AI and Education and Other AI Uses This Week

AI chats and I are inseparable now. I use it quite often on a daily basis for work. I seek quick answers when there is no need for me to fact check (sports data, basic history, summarizing important ports of an article or video, etc). 

• What I need to get before the store shelves start to empty - I don’t know if this is going to happen but I do not need to get caught without essentials.
• Help me craft a 30-day to learn the basics of Japanese. I really want to see how much I can do done under intense schedule.
• I played with my dog and read to her at night. I know she doesn’t know what’s going on or understand what I am doing but it makes her less anxious and really puts her to bed quickly. I started recording it and posting on YouTube. I asked ChatGPT for a business plan. I made my own stories. I am interested in turning these adventures into a line of stories for children.
• Reading a couple of books. I used Gemini to help me explain concepts I did not fully grasp. I did have to fact-check a few times to make sure it was not hallucinating. I asked follow-up questions which I also had to fact-check. 
• I am in the market for a new iPad. Given the news lately about iOS 19 with better MacOS-like features, I wonder if a refurbished iPad Air with M1 would be able to take advantage of it. I decided to go with the recently released iPad Air with M3. With Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference just a little over a month away, I decided to wait and see. Anything with the Apple Silicon including the M1 and 8 GB of RAM should be able to to run most of the UI changes and upgrades without any issue. However, I have a feeling that the next iPad Pro will get a RAM upgrade to 12 GB just like the rumored iPhone 17 line. I figure the upgraded RAM will be for more advanced Apple Intelligence features but it would not hurt to future proof for things like multi-tasking and other possible MacOS related features.
• Explored with ChatGPT on the news about possible 9th planet, or Planet X, tat might be lurking on the outer edge of the solar system. And explored possibilities that there might be even more large bodies and life fueled by extra-solar radiation and materials. Most of that life will not be like those found on our planet. It was a fun discussion to pass some time while having coffee and a cheesecake. 
• Asked for recipes for chicken soup and banana chocolate bread puddings. For the chicken soup, I wanted a recipe similar to the one from the old Souplantation. And for the bread puddings, I asked about substituting ingredients beucase I did not want to buy cream for just this one use.
• I asked for a recipe on Japanese egg sandwich. I really wanted to follow this recipe closely as it will be the first time I will be making this. I had to drive a hour to a Japanese market but they had all the ingredients I needed. 
• I researched robotic kits with regular search via DuckDuckGo and Google along with AI chats with the total of making an AI robot. I am deeply fascinated with how Anakin created his own droids with spare parts. Why can’t I do the same?

Almost all of this week’s interaction with AI chats were mostly asking the AI of questions. I would say this was a lazy use. I find it interesting how AI is my goo-to app for quickly finding information. It is quicker than search. I have the habit of verifying the AI provided answers but do you? How about others? This is both lazy and quickly possible a bad habit to develop. 

having said that, Gemini helped me get closer to solving an issue with one of my blog sites. I would not have been able to get that far with just regular searches. AI remains a great sounding board - just like what I use it for in discussing the implications of a Planet X discovery. 

I also played with a little vibe coding - I wanted to create a web app that allows me to add a choose your own adventure story and maybe turned that into an app. I did not get that far - I will need to put in more time and learn the correct prompts. 

All in all, AI is already providing some benefits that I did not imagine I would be using - like coding. And yes, you still need to learning coding even if the AI is capable of generating a vast percentage of the codes now. Don’t be lazy.