Can Ternary Bonsai 1.7B run on iPhone 15?
YES — Runs great
Formula estimate
What this means
Our estimate says Ternary Bonsai 1.7B should fit comfortably on your iPhone 15.
Download the Q2_0 version, which is about 0.5 GB. We expect it to use about 1.2 GB of the roughly 3.9 GB available to a model on this phone.
At the estimated speed, a roughly 300-word answer may take about 9 seconds to finish.
This result is calculated from the phone and model specifications. It has not been measured on this exact phone and setup.
46.1tokens/s
estimated · instant
1.2GB
needed at Q2_0
Q2_0
quant checked
needs 1.2 GBusable 3.9 GB
Apple A16 Bionic6 GB RAMMetal
See how fast it feels
Estimated at 46.1 tokens/s — instant. A ~300-word reply takes about 9 seconds on this phone.
Where the memory goes
| Component | Detail | GB |
|---|---|---|
| Model weights | Q2_0 GGUF (0.5 GB) + mmap overhead | 0.5 |
| KV cache | 4K context window | 0.1 |
| Runtime | llama.cpp + app overhead | 0.6 |
| Total needed | at Q2_0, 4K context | 1.2 |
| Working budget | 6 GB RAM − iOS reserve (jetsam limit) | 3.9 |
| Headroom | remaining inside the working budget | 2.7 |
Pick your quant
| Quant | Download | Verdict | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_0 BEST HERE | 0.5 GB | ✓ Runs great | ~46.1 tokens/s |
| Q2_0_g64 | 0.5 GB | ✓ Runs great | ~46.1 tokens/s |
Use the supported phone path
The model fits in memory, but this exact download is not a PocketPal model.
The current App Store and Play Store versions of PocketPal cannot load this tracked ternary file. Memory fit does not make this exact download beginner-ready.
For the same kind of chat in PocketPal, use this supported build instead:
Check Bonsai 27B (1-bit)Related checks
More on iPhone 15
Ternary Bonsai 1.7B on other phones