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Hardware guide · Gemma

What hardware do you need to run Gemma 3 12B?

Gemma 3 12B needs about 8.9 GB to run at Q4_K_M, so the lightest hardware that runs it is Apple M2 (16GB). 29 of 40 devices tested can run it.

Needs (Q4_K_M)
~8.9 GB
Devices that run it
29
Too small
11
Lightest that runs it
~10.5 GB
Recommended Q4_K_M
Apple M2 (16GB) Yes

Runs at Q4_K_M using ~8.9 GB of ~10.5 GB usable.

What kind of hardware runs Gemma 3 12B

Of the 29 devices that run it, here is the split by hardware class.

9 discrete GPUs 13 Macs 2 laptops 5 phones

Hardware that runs Gemma 3 12B

Ranked by usable memory, lightest first. Prices are approximate street prices for the device itself (a GPU is the card alone; a Mac is the whole machine). Tok/s is a bandwidth estimate; see methodology.

Compatible devices 29 total

Too small for Gemma 3 12B

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Generic Android Phone (12GB RAM) iPhone 17 Pro iPhone Air Apple M1 (8GB) 8GB RAM Laptop (CPU/iGPU only) iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Pro Generic Android Phone (8GB RAM) iPhone 17

See the full Gemma 3 12B memory breakdown, or compare it against other models.

Sources

Memory at Q4_K_M (8.9 GB = 7.3 GB weights + KV cache + overhead), validated 2026-08-03. See methodology.