text model · Mistral · iOS

Can I run Ministral 3 8B on iPhone Air?

Compatibility verdict VRAM threshold engine

Yes, it runs slow on this hardware ~8 tok/s est.

Yes. Ministral 3 8B runs on iPhone Air at Q4_K_M (~6.3 GB of ~8 GB usable).

Needs ~6.3 GB Device usable ~8 GB

Runs at Q4_K_M using ~6.3 GB of ~8 GB usable.

That figure is at a 4k context and moves about ±15% as context length changes. iPhone Air leaves ~1.7 GB of headroom.

Q4_K_M needed: ~6.3 GB
Usable on device: ~8 GB
Device memory: 12 GB
Best quant: Q4_K_M

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Which quant fits

Quant ladder vs ~8 GB usable

Q2_K

~4.9 GB

Q3_K_M

~5.4 GB

Q4_K_M

~6.3 GB

Q5_K_M

~7.2 GB

Q6_K

~8.1 GB

Q8_0

~9.9 GB

FP16

~19.4 GB

The line marks iPhone Air's ~8 GB budget; rungs past it are too large.

How to run it

On iOS use Apple Foundation Models (Built into iOS 26, ~3B on-device model, zero download, fully private.).

Model Mistral

Parameters: 8B
Q4_K_M size: 4.84 GB
Q8_0 size: 8.41 GB
Context: 256k
Ollama tag: ministral-3:8b

Full Ministral 3 8B requirements →

Device iOS

Memory: 12 GB unified
Usable for weights: ~8 GB
Best runtime: llama.cpp + Metal (via PocketPal or Off Grid app)

Best models for iPhone Air →

You could also run

Run Ministral 3 8B on other hardware

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (8GB)Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB)Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 (12GB)Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB)Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Generic Android Phone (12GB RAM)

FAQ

Can iPhone Air run Ministral 3 8B?

Yes. Ministral 3 8B runs on iPhone Air at Q4_K_M (~6.3 GB of ~8 GB usable).

How much memory does Ministral 3 8B need?

iPhone Air has room to spare. At Q4_K_M the weights are ~4.84 GB; with KV cache and runtime overhead, budget ~6.3 GB at a 4k context.

What is the best tool to run Ministral 3 8B on iOS?

On iPhone and iPad, Apple Foundation Models (Built into iOS 26, ~3B on-device model, zero download, fully private.) is the standard choice. Phones realistically run 1B-4B class models. Anything larger thermally throttles or OOMs.

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Markdown

[![Ministral 3 8B on iPhone Air](https://localmodel.run/badge/ministral-3-8b/iphone-air.svg)](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/ministral-3-8b/iphone-air)

Sources

Weights are measured from GGUF files; KV cache and overhead are computed, so totals can vary ~15% with context and runtime. Any tok/s is a bandwidth estimate. See methodology.