Apple’s standard iPhone 18 could inherit two notable upgrades from the iPhone 18 Pro when it arrives next year, with a smaller Dynamic Island and more memory potentially narrowing the gap between Apple’s regular and flagship phones.
Analyst Jeff Pu has previously forecast that iPhone 18 will feature 12GB of RAM, up from the 8GB in iPhone 17, alongside the smaller Dynamic Island design introduced with iPhone 18 Pro. The details were outlined in a research note obtained by 9to5Mac, although other analysts have disagreed about how much memory Apple will include.
Both changes would be significant for buyers who typically choose Apple’s standard iPhone. More RAM could support increasingly demanding on-device Apple Intelligence features, while a smaller Dynamic Island would make the screen look closer to the current iPhone 18 Pro without requiring a move to the more expensive model.
Pu expects Apple to increase the standard iPhone’s RAM to 12GB, giving the next-generation A20 chip more room to handle demanding tasks. That could become especially important as Apple expands what Siri AI and other intelligence features can process directly on an iPhone.
However, the memory figure is not settled. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has instead pointed to 9GB of RAM, and our iPhone 18 rumor and release-date guide has tracked the conflicting claims. Neither amount should be treated as a confirmed specification.
A smaller Dynamic Island could come to the standard iPhone
The other expected upgrade is a reduced Dynamic Island, following Apple’s redesign for iPhone 18 Pro. On the Pro models, the smaller cutout leaves more usable display space and supports displaying up to three Live Activities at once.
Pu’s prediction suggests Apple may bring the physical redesign to its standard model sooner than it did with the original Dynamic Island.
There are competing reports about the regular model’s appearance, too. Some supply-chain rumors suggest Apple may keep the existing Dynamic Island and make only modest exterior changes, so the new display cutout remains uncertain.
Apple is expected to launch the standard iPhone 18 in spring 2027 rather than alongside the Pro models that arrived in September. It may be joined by iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2 as part of a larger spring iPhone lineup.
Apple has not yet announced the regular iPhone 18, its final specifications, or a release date.