iPhone 17 Pro Max to Get 12GB RAM, New Vapour Chamber Cooling System Exclusively: Ming-Chi Kuo

Apple is yet to reveal the iPhone 16 series, but we are already hearing quite a few things about the iPhone 17 lineup. The flagship series, which will likely be unveiled in September 2025, is rumoured to bring several upgrades over the iPhone 16 series. Earlier this week, the iPhone 17 was tipped to arrive with a memory upgrade over its predecessor. Now, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has shed more light on the specifications of the top-end iPhone 17 Pro Max. Apple’s premium handset is said to arrive with more RAM and an improved cooling system compared to the iPhone 17 Pro and other variants in the lineup.

12GB RAM Update Could Be Limited to iPhone 17 Pro Max

Noted supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed his iPhone 17 Pro Max expectations on X Thursday. Kuo expects the flagship device to ship with 12GB of RAM. This will be a significant upgrade over the 8GB of RAM of the iPhone 15 Pro lineup. The upcoming iPhone 16 series will likely pack 8GB of RAM across the board. Apple Intelligence will likely be a major selling point of the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

According to Kuo, the standard iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17, iPhone SE 4 and the ultra-thin version of the iPhone 17 (iPhone 17 “Slim”) will all have 8GB of RAM. This revelation comes a day after a Weibo leaker suggested that next year’s iPhone family would see an upgrade to 12GB of RAM, without specifying which models in the lineup would get the memory boost.

Further, Kuo believes Apple will include an upgraded cooling system, combining vapour chamber (VC) technology and graphite sheets, exclusively on the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The remaining vanilla iPhone 17 models and iPhone 17 Pro could continue to use graphite sheets alone for thermal management.

iPhone 17 Pro Max currently accounts for nearly 40 percent of new model shipments, says Kuo. Based on this he suggests that Apple will continue to focus on its strategy to differentiate the iPhone 17 Pro Max from its non-Max version by providing the best specifications for the Pro Max variant in the iPhone lineup.

The iPhone 17 lineup launch is over a year away and we can expect these details to change over time.