iPhone 17 won’t get iOS 27’s top-tier features, here’s why

Apple Intelligence

iOS 27

iPhone 17

iOS 27 has some exciting new Apple Intelligence upgrades coming, but you’ll need the most powerful iPhones to access some of them—and in a repeat of recent history, iPhone 17 won’t even make the cut. Here’s why.

With iOS 27, the latest base iPhone gets excluded from select features—just like in 2024

Back in June 2024, Apple Intelligence was unveiled with very limited hardware support in iOS 18. Apple said it would be available on iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max—that’s it.

At the time, that meant cutting off two of the company’s four latest and greatest iPhone models. The base iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus were not supported.

For a company that typically extends new software features to old devices for many years, it was a surprising move.

But it was also expected to be a one-off. The understanding was that AI, especially on-device AI, comes with stricter hardware requirements. And when Apple Intelligence launched, it needed 8GB RAM minimum—thus, the more affordable iPhone 15 models missed out.

With iOS 27 though, history is repeating itself. Apple has once again introduced new AI features that its latest base model iPhone doesn’t support.

Why iPhone 17 doesn’t support certain AI features in iOS 27

There are two AI upgrades this year that won’t be coming to iPhone 17:

iOS 27’s most powerful on-device AI model requires iPhone 17 Pro or Pro Max, or iPhone Air

The same is true for a new Siri AI voice customization feature, which iPhone 17 won’t support

Top comment by MaxM

Apple should offer a 70% trade-in guarantee for products released since two years ago, when it began promoting AI, that do not properly support AI. If it was going to show limited features to users who waited three years for the product, it is highly likely that they would not have purchased the device.

These more restrictive hardware requirements are again tied to RAM. iPhone 17 only has 8GB, while iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air have 12GB.

Apple confirmed this is the cutoff by limiting these features on iPad and Mac to the following:

iPad with M4 and later with 12GB or more in memory

Mac with M3 and later with 12GB or more in memory

Hopefully this is the last time we see such a stark cutoff of recent devices. iOS 27 in many respects is a reset for Apple Intelligence, with brand new, more powerful models being used.

In any case, it was disappointing when the first Apple Intelligence features weren’t available on iPhone 15. And now after iOS 27’s unveiling, though iPhone 17 users won’t miss out on nearly as much, it’s still unfortunate they don’t get the same support as Apple’s Pro and Air models.

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Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.