Device profile · iOS
Best local LLMs for iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro has ~4.5 GB usable for model weights and runs 37 of 135 popular models. Best tool: Apple Foundation Models.
- Usable memory
- ~4.5 GB
- Models run
- 37
- Too large
- 98
- Top pick
- 3B
Runs at Q4_K_M using ~3.2 GB of ~4.5 GB usable.
Runs on iPhone 15 Pro
- TightGemma 4 E2B5.1B · ~4.4 GB at Q4_K_M
- TightGemma 3 4B4B · ~3.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- TightQwen3 4B4B · ~3.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- NE TightNemotron 3 Nano 4B4B · ~3.9 GB at Q4_K_M
- TightPhi-3.5-mini 3.8B3.82B · ~3.7 GB at Q4_K_M
- TightPhi-4-mini 3.8B3.8B · ~3.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- TightPhi-4-mini-reasoning3.8B · ~3.6 GB at Q4_K_M
- TightQwen2.5-VL 3B3.75B · ~4.4 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesGranite 4.1 3B3.4B · ~3.3 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 3B3.09B · ~3.3 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 Coder 3B3.09B · ~3 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesLlama 3.2 3B3B · ~3.2 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesSmolLM3 3B3B · ~3 GB at Q4_K_M
- OP YesApple OpenELM 3B3B · ~3 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesGemma 2 2B2.61B · ~2.9 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesGranite 3.1 2B2.53B · ~2.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- S YesSarvam-1 2B2B · ~2.7 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesSmolLM2 1.7B1.7B · ~2.2 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen3 1.7B1.7B · ~2.4 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 1.5B1.54B · ~2.2 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 Coder 1.5B1.54B · ~2 GB at Q4_K_M
- MI YesMiniCPM-V 4.61.3B · ~1.6 GB at Q4_K_M
- LF YesLFM2 1.2B1.17B · ~2.5 GB at Q4_K_M
- LF YesLFM2.5 1.2B1.17B · ~1.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- LF YesLFM2.5 1.2B Thinking1.17B · ~1.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- TL YesTinyLlama 1.1B1.1B · ~1.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- OP YesApple OpenELM 1.1B1.1B · ~1.7 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesLlama 3.2 1B1B · ~1.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesGemma 3 1B1B · ~1.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- LF YesLFM2 700M0.742B · ~1.9 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen3 0.6B0.6B · ~1.5 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 0.5B0.494B · ~1.5 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 Coder 0.5B0.494B · ~1.4 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesSmolLM2 360M0.362B · ~1.2 GB at Q4_K_M
- LF YesLFM2 350M0.354B · ~1.4 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesGemma 3 270M0.27B · ~1.1 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesSmolLM2 135M0.135B · ~1 GB at Q4_K_M
Too large for this device
Best way to run models on iOS
Beginner: Apple Foundation Models, Built into iOS 26, ~3B on-device model, zero download, fully private.
Power user: PocketPal AI, Run any GGUF from HuggingFace fully offline.
Phones realistically run 1B-4B class models. Anything larger thermally throttles or OOMs.
Full iOS tool guide →FAQ
What is the best local LLM for iPhone 15 Pro?
Llama 3.2 3B is the strongest model that runs comfortably, using ~3.2 GB at Q4_K_M of the ~4.5 GB usable on iPhone 15 Pro.
How much of iPhone 15 Pro's memory can I use for a model?
About 4.5 GB. On a CPU-only machine, leave headroom for the OS and apps.
Which tool should I use on iOS?
Apple Foundation Models (Built into iOS 26, ~3B on-device model, zero download, fully private.) or PocketPal AI for speed. Phones realistically run 1B-4B class models. Anything larger thermally throttles or OOMs.
Compare nearby devices
Hardware with a similar usable pool, and how many of the 135 tracked models each runs next to iPhone 15 Pro's 37.
Sources
- cpu-monkey.com
- developer.apple.com
- enclaveai.app
- forums.macrumors.com
- github.com/a-ghorbani
- github.com/google-ai-edge
- github.com/mainframecomputer
- gorilla.cs.berkeley.edu
- gsmarena.com
- helloexpress.net
- huggingface.co
- layla-network.ai
- lmarena.ai
- ollama.com/library/llama3.2
- ollama.com/library/llama3.2/tags
- privatellm.app
- support.apple.com
- techinsights.com
- wccftech.com
Memory figures are estimates. See methodology.