Apple Intelligence is officially available as part of the public beta of iOS 181 and will undoubtedly be available to non-beta users in the near future However, if that actually happens, we need to make sure there is enough space on our phones

The good news is that, at least initially, Apple Intelligence will only require 4GB of storage space This is at least according to Apple's new support documentation for the latest iOS 181 beta Apparently all iPhones will have to give up 4GB of storage space for Apple Intelligence in addition to the space required to install iOS 181

Apple has not disclosed how much free space will be needed before iPads and Macs will be able to install Apple Intelligence or how storage requirements may increase in the future

That said, Apple has placed a caveat regarding this feature, stating that currently the space requirement to install Apple Intelligence is 4GB It adds that “storage requirements for the Apple Intelligence model on the device will increase as more features are deployed”

Apple doesn't state that you need more space, and possibly isn't even that sure about what future requirements might look like But that does mean it's something you'll likely need to be aware of, especially if you're rocking an iPhone with 128GB of storage That space could fill up quickly, and no one wants to be tossing files and apps into the trash just to make sure there's enough room for the next update

But since Apple Intelligence seemed to be the spark that got Apple to upgrade the iPhone 16's RAM to 8GB, perhaps the same could be done for storage space I have argued that 128GB is no longer enough, and sacrificing more of that capacity, even if it is for AI, is not very attractive

Thus, if you haven't picked up an iPhone 16 yet, it might be worth spending a little money on the 256GB model Alternatively, you could sign up for iCloud storage and store large files like photos and videos in the cloud