# Can I run Phi-4 on a Mac mini 16GB? | What Can I Run AI?

> Yes, but it is tight. Phi-4 at Q4_K_M needs about 11.2 GB; Mac mini 16GB has 12.0 GB usable. Estimated tokens/sec and context headroom.

Source: https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/phi-4/mac-mini-m6-16/

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**Yes, but it is tight.** Phi-4 at Q4\_K\_M needs about 11.2 GB, and the Mac mini M6 16GB has 12.0 GB usable at a \~4k context.

# Can I run Phi-4 on a Mac mini 16GB?

Phi-4 at Q4\_K\_M needs about 11.2 GB, and the Mac mini M6 16GB has 12.0 GB usable. That figure is 16 GB of unified memory on the spec sheet, of which 12.0 GB is usable for weights and cache, at 153 GB/s memory bandwidth. Microsoft’s Phi-4, a dense 14B-class model often compared with other 12B–14B instruct weights. These are estimates from [our formula](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/method/), not measured benchmarks.

Quant that fits

Q4\_K\_M Fits, short context only

Memory needed

11.2 GB at Q4\_K\_M, \~4k context

Usable unified memory

12.0 GB of 16 GB unified memory

Est. tokens/sec

8–14 estimate

[phi-4](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/models/phi-4/) · [Mac mini M6 16GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/hardware/mac-mini-m6-16/) · [Everything this machine runs](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/what-can-i-run/mac-mini-m6-16/) · [Q4 vs Q8 vs FP16](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/quantization/)

## Memory at each quant

| Quant    | Need vs 12.0 GB | Verdict       |
| -------- | --------------- | ------------- |
| Q4\_K\_M | 11.2 GB         | Q4Tight       |
| Q8\_0    | 18.9 GB         | Q8Won’t fit   |
| FP16     | 34.7 GB         | FP16Won’t fit |

## Estimated tokens per second

Estimate: **8–14 tokens/sec** at Q4\_K\_M. This is a bandwidth-derived range, not a bench. Efficiency is a 45–80% unified-memory band from [How we calculate](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/method/).

## Context headroom

At Q4\_K\_M, this machine has headroom out to about **4k tokens** under our KV estimate. Longer chats need more memory for the cache. Figures assume an FP16 KV cache.

__Context headroom for Phi-4 on a Mac mini 16GB at Q4\_K\_M__
| Context | KV cache (FP16) | Total at Q4\_K\_M | Verdict   |
| ------- | --------------- | ----------------- | --------- |
| 4k      | 0.8 GB          | 11.2 GB           | Tight     |
| 8k      | 1.7 GB          | 12.1 GB           | Won’t fit |
| 16k     | 3.4 GB          | 13.7 GB           | Won’t fit |
| 32k     | 6.7 GB          | 17.1 GB           | Won’t fit |
| 64k     | 13.4 GB         | 23.8 GB           | Won’t fit |
| 128k    | 26.8 GB         | 37.2 GB           | Won’t fit |

From the model’s config. Try other sizes in the [VRAM calculator](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/vram-calculator/) or see the [context length guide](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/context-length/).

## What to do instead

* Run [Gemma 3 12B](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-12b-it/mac-mini-m6-16/) instead (9.5 GB at Q4). It is a different model, not a drop-in, but it does fit this machine.
* Q8\_0 needs 18.9 GB and does not fit here. The [Radeon RX 7900 XT](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/hardware/rx-7900-xt/) has 20.0 GB usable, enough for Q8.
* Full hardware list: [phi-4](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/models/phi-4/). Specs for this machine: [Mac mini M6 16GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/hardware/mac-mini-m6-16/).

## Other hardware for Phi-4

* [Phi-4 on an RTX 3060 12GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/phi-4/rtx-3060-12gb/)Tight
* [Phi-4 on an RTX 3070 Ti](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/phi-4/rtx-3070-ti/)Won’t fit
* [Phi-4 on an RTX 3080](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/phi-4/rtx-3080-10gb/)Won’t fit
* [Phi-4 on an RTX 4060 Ti 16GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/phi-4/rtx-4060-ti-16gb/)Fits
* [Phi-4 on an RTX 4070 Ti Super](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/phi-4/rtx-4070-ti-super/)Fits
* [Phi-4 on an RTX 4090](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/phi-4/rtx-4090/)Fits

## Other models on a Mac mini 16GB

* [Qwen3-32B on a Mac mini 16GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/qwen3-32b/mac-mini-m6-16/)Won’t fit
* [Qwen3-30B-A3B on a Mac mini 16GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/qwen3-30b-a3b/mac-mini-m6-16/)Won’t fit
* [Qwen3.8-27B on a Mac mini 16GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/qwen3.8-27b/mac-mini-m6-16/)Won’t fit
* [Gemma 3 27B on a Mac mini 16GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-3-27b-it/mac-mini-m6-16/)Won’t fit
* [Gemma 4 31B on a Mac mini 16GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gemma-4-31b-it/mac-mini-m6-16/)Won’t fit
* [gpt-oss-20b on a Mac mini 16GB](https://whatcanirunai.vercel.app/can-i-run/gpt-oss-20b/mac-mini-m6-16/)Won’t fit

## Quick answers

Can I run Phi-4 on a Mac mini 16GB?

Yes, but it is tight. Phi-4 at Q4\_K\_M needs about 11.2 GB, and the Mac mini M6 16GB has 12.0 GB usable.

How much VRAM does Phi-4 need?

About 11.2 GB at Q4\_K\_M, 18.9 GB at Q8\_0 and 34.7 GB at FP16, estimated for a \~4k context.

How fast is Phi-4 on a Mac mini 16GB?

Our estimate is 8–14 tokens per second at Q4\_K\_M. It is not a measured benchmark.

What context length can I use?

At Q4\_K\_M, our KV estimate supports up to about 4k tokens before the cache pushes the total over usable memory.

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