Device profile · Android
Best local LLMs for Generic Android Phone (12GB RAM)
Generic Android Phone (12GB RAM) has ~8.5 GB usable for model weights and runs 35 of 67 popular models. Best tool: PocketPal AI.
- Usable memory
- ~8.5 GB
- Models run
- 35
- Too large
- 32
- Top pick
- 4B
Runs at Q4_K_M using ~3.8 GB of ~8.5 GB usable. You have room for Q8_0 for higher quality.
Runs on Generic Android Phone (12GB RAM)
- FN YesFalcon3 10B10B · ~7.5 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesGemma 2 9B9B · ~7.3 GB at Q4_K_M
- GL YesGLM-4 9B9B · ~7.3 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5-VL 7B8.29B · ~7.1 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesLlama 3.1 8B8B · ~6.4 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen3 8B8B · ~6.5 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama 8B8B · ~6.4 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesMistral 7B7B · ~5.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 7B7B · ~6.1 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 7B7B · ~6.1 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 Coder 7B7B · ~5.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesGemma 3 4B4B · ~3.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen3 4B4B · ~3.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesPhi-3.5-mini 3.8B3.82B · ~3.7 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesPhi-4-mini 3.8B3.8B · ~3.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5-VL 3B3.75B · ~4.4 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 3B3.09B · ~3.3 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 Coder 3B3.09B · ~3 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesLlama 3.2 3B3B · ~3.2 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesSmolLM3 3B3B · ~3 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesGemma 2 2B2.61B · ~2.9 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesGranite 3.1 2B2.53B · ~2.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- S YesSarvam-1 2B2B · ~2.7 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesSmolLM2 1.7B1.7B · ~2.2 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen3 1.7B1.7B · ~2.4 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 1.5B1.54B · ~2.2 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 Coder 1.5B1.54B · ~2 GB at Q4_K_M
- TL YesTinyLlama 1.1B1.1B · ~1.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesLlama 3.2 1B1B · ~1.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesGemma 3 1B1B · ~1.8 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen3 0.6B0.6B · ~1.5 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 0.5B0.494B · ~1.5 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesQwen2.5 Coder 0.5B0.494B · ~1.4 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesSmolLM2 360M0.362B · ~1.2 GB at Q4_K_M
- YesSmolLM2 135M0.135B · ~1 GB at Q4_K_M
Too large for this device
Best way to run models on Android
Beginner: PocketPal AI, Polished app, download GGUF and run offline.
Power user: MLC LLM / LiteRT-LM, GPU/NPU acceleration paths for supported chips.
NPU acceleration is limited and chip-specific; most apps run on CPU. Expect 1B-4B class.
Full Android tool guide →FAQ
What is the best local LLM for Generic Android Phone (12GB RAM)?
Gemma 3 4B is the strongest model that runs comfortably, using ~3.8 GB at Q4_K_M of the ~8.5 GB usable on Generic Android Phone (12GB RAM).
How much of Generic Android Phone (12GB RAM)'s memory can I use for a model?
About 8.5 GB. On a CPU-only machine, leave headroom for the OS and apps.
Which tool should I use on Android?
PocketPal AI (Polished app, download GGUF and run offline.) or MLC LLM / LiteRT-LM for speed. NPU acceleration is limited and chip-specific; most apps run on CPU. Expect 1B-4B class.
Sources
Memory figures are estimates. See methodology.