Can Ministral 3 3B run on iPhone 14?
YES — Runs, barely
Grade B · 68/100 · formula estimate
What this means
Our estimate says Ministral 3 3B should fit, but replies are likely to arrive slowly.
Download the Q4_K_M version, which is about 2.1 GB. We expect it to use about 3 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 55 seconds to finish.
This result is calculated from the phone and model specifications. It has not been measured on this exact phone and setup.
7.3tokens/s
estimated · reading pace
3GB
needed at Q4_K_M
Q4_K_M
quant checked
B
grade · 68/100
needs 3 GBusable 3.9 GB
Apple A15 Bionic6 GB RAMMetal
Make it bearable
1
Drop context to 2K — saves ~0.1 GB of KV cache and a little speed.
2
Close every other app before loading — the 0.9 GB headroom is real; iOS may evict the model otherwise.
3
Expect throttling after ~10 min of sustained generation on a phone chassis.
See how fast it feels
Estimated at 7.3 tokens/s — reading pace. A ~300-word reply takes about 55 seconds on this phone.
Where the memory goes
| Component | Detail | GB |
|---|---|---|
| Model weights | Q4_K_M GGUF (2.1 GB) + mmap overhead | 2.2 |
| KV cache | 4K context window | 0.2 |
| Runtime | llama.cpp + app overhead | 0.6 |
| Total needed | at Q4_K_M, 4K context | 3 |
| Usable on iPhone 14 | 6 GB RAM − iOS reserve (jetsam limit) | 3.9 |
| Headroom | left for the OS and your other apps | 0.9 |
Pick your quant
| Quant | Download | Verdict | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M BEST HERE | 2.1 GB | ! Runs, barely | ~7.3 tokens/s |
| Q5_K_M | 2.5 GB | ! Runs, barely | ~6.1 tokens/s |
| Q8_0 | 3.7 GB | ✕ Won't fit | won't fit |
Get it running in 3 steps
1
Install PocketPal from the App Store — free, no account needed.
2
Download "Ministral 3 3B Q4_K_M" in the in-app model hub — 2.1 GB, use Wi-Fi. Search Hugging Face for
mistralai/Ministral-3-3B-Instruct-2512-GGUF and pick the Q4_K_M file.3
Set context to 4K and enable Metal — expect ~7.3 tokens/s on this phone.
Related checks
MORE ON IPHONE 14
MINISTRAL 3 3B ON OTHER PHONES