Counterclockwise: RAM capacity through the years

29 April 2018
We look at both the average (which is growing quickly) and the maximum (which may have hit a wall).

Sort by:

  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • tDP
  • 29 Apr 2018

Ionix, 29 Apr 2018I find 4GB RAM to be more than enough! Most 4GB ram phones ... moreUFS is available in flagship chipsets (SD 8xx) only. They're still considered expensive to most people.

    Moj, 29 Apr 2018I do agree with android part and old man trying to get hims... moreGPU VRAM memory is used mostly in games, most of GPU acceleration that you see in media apps dont really use lots of VRAM, because they use graphic card just for rendering not to deal with heavy textures like in games.
    If you used any apps that use GPU for acceleration and you monitor your hardware stats, you will find out that even video rendering apps or mining use just raw power of graphic card not its memory.

    Most of time when I render videos or use any app that use GPU acceleration never reach 50-200MB they just use card as additional power source that is speedier in some tasks than normal CPU.

    I can give you whole list of apps and most popular games with average memory consumption, but if you even checked how your PC behave you will know that VRAM is used mostly by games that need to chew HD textures with their mipmaps and bumpmaps, rest is dumped over RAM and temporary cache. There are some exceptions but those apps are related to games/rendering heavy graphic files.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • 043
      • 29 Apr 2018

      AnonF-85937, 29 Apr 2018Interesting read. I must say the 6GB LPDDR4X SDRAM in the N... moreThe 1GB RAM in my iPhone 5 is also doing wonders, after update to iOS 10 it still runs completely fluid.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • kBe
        • 29 Apr 2018

        An OS..! An operating system..!! Perfect an OS..!!! definitely, 2GB of RAM is enough..!!!! But, android also known as "ALWAYS ON+BACKGROUND PROCESSES" Noway, we'll have more & more growth 10/12/14... 20GB of RAM as soon as possible..

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • 043
          • 29 Apr 2018

          "Sometimes we feel that makers are trying to pull the wool over our eyes. With storage especially few mention if it’s eMMC or UFC and that makes a huge difference in speed. "

          Completely underrated

            • U
            • UsmanHSh
            • X}$
            • 29 Apr 2018

            Kiyasuriin, 29 Apr 2018So sad. But very true.Android is unoptimized (from ram consumption point of view) due to following reasons.

            1. It is made to run on a plethora of devices, so it is upto manufacturer to optimize the OS, well most manufacturers don't do it enough, consider it unnecessary because of short product cycle [ e.g. for Samsung Two Galaxy flagships (before you count sub-versions e.g. plus, active, mini etc), plus note series a year] multiply it by no. of updates they push. Optimize? Ain't nobody got time / resources for that when customers are willing to pay extra for more powerful hardware and newer devices.

            2. JIT compilation of running code (app) is a big NO on mobile processors from battery / processing power perspective, especially the big and heavy apps. That's why android at the time of installation creates "optimized" uncompressed, optimized for hardware (Processor, ARM version), ready to execute code of app handy. This code is taxing on ram and storage (try looking at breakdown of an android app in link2sd or similar software).

            3. App updates rarely are targetted to older low ram devices, useless features are removed rarely but new ones are constantly being added.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • sxs
              • 29 Apr 2018

              6GB of RAM is the sweet spot for phones 2018. I wouldn't say that it's overkill since 4GB really struggles to keep everything open ad that shows in everyday use and also in Youtube. 8GB maybe is the overkill but more is better than less isnt it?

                • F
                • AnonF-85937
                • FX9
                • 29 Apr 2018

                Interesting read. I must say the 6GB LPDDR4X SDRAM in the Note8 is doing wonders, phone continues to run smoothly on Oreo, and usually has around 1.5-2GB free all the time, so multitasking is never an issue, this phone has been such a beast.

                I hope the Note10 will have 8GB RAM and fast camera memory chip for slo-mo, I guess that is where most manufacturers are going now anyway.

                  • M
                  • Moj
                  • au6
                  • 29 Apr 2018

                  Akinaro, 29 Apr 2018Jesus.... I expected more from this article, especially lap... moreI do agree with android part and old man trying to get himself run with eating 2GB RAM but do not agree with gaming part and the GPU use it's own memory for other things than you can imagine.
                  Mostly what effect GPU is boundwith of memory and some games and their engine use more RAM to boast things slightly which make things worse than what it was! (just because of poor ram management in higher than 8 GB RAM capacity)

                    More RAM doesn't necessarily mean more power.
                    It's something that Chinese replica makers ( OPPO VIVO GIONEE One+) have spread to hide their inefficient OS ( over loaded Android).
                    I use Android One device with 4 GB RAM. Even at peak working, it consumes 3 GB max. Rest of the time I have nearly 1.75 gb free. Phone operates butter smooth. No heating no lagging nothing.

                    But I see many with phones from above mentioned,and users are literally banging their phones for slow operations.
                    It is efficient OS that matters and not higher RAM.

                      Akinaro, 29 Apr 2018Jesus.... I expected more from this article, especially lap... moreSo sad. But very true.

                        Jesus.... I expected more from this article, especially laptops mentioned at the end.
                        Modern computers and systems like windows dont need 16GB. That amount of memory is useful ONLY for heavy media editing/rendering and really, really heavy multitasking. Average home PC even used for gaming or multitasking(10+ apps) need maybe 6GB for smooth work.
                        Games? The same average game in 2016-2018 use about 3-4GB of RAM during playing, because most heavy memory task are made on graphic card, not on RAM.
                        And there is no sign that it would change in the near future. Even if you start heavy game, with mods 2-3 apps in the bacground(browser with few tabs) and eg. streaming app, your average memory consumption will almost never reach 6-8GB.

                        Now Android. Android use memory in different way... and its actually worst thing in Android, all that power we have on devices today mostly go to run system it self smooth. It is most disgusting thing that mobile OS that run mostly social/media apps need so much power and memory to handle them. Its hilarious that memory management on Android need more than 2GB of RAM to run smooth. No one for past year even tried to sit down and discuss that: "hey! Android suck, literally, it suck memory, we should think about better power and memory distribution in our system + we should force on devs to optimize their apps better so end user would get better experience"
                        But no one do that. Android deep inside is still old linux core grandpa that just wear fancy clothes and have botoks all over its face. but deep down there its barely breathing old men who need 2x more power to run it self than it should.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • sXb
                          • 29 Apr 2018

                          Kiyasuriin, 29 Apr 2018I'd gladly tell you the specs of my PDA. (Renamed it. as K-... moreI sorry but you are a joke unless give us some pictures with proof
                          you don't know that GPU uses system ram that's why its not 8192 or 4096 etc but somehow you managed to build your own "pda" or was it "gaming device"
                          and please tell us from where you got snapdragon 845 ?

                            • I
                            • Ionix
                            • fqx
                            • 29 Apr 2018

                            I find 4GB RAM to be more than enough! Most 4GB ram phones never have less than 0.8-1 GB free ram in Android which is more than enough.
                            It only needs to be faster. More ram doesn't mean better performance in Android & it only increases costs.
                            A phone must have 4GB ddr4x/5 ram with 64-128GB ufs 2.0 or better base memory with FHD display. Anything more is just gimmick. Nobody users vr. QHD & higher screens only kill cpu & gpu performance

                              Shanti Dope, 29 Apr 20184GB RAM on smartphones People 2015: Are you serious? Dam... moreHahaha! +1 true story!

                                Honestly, I wish there will be more of fast memory in camera for super-slo-mo. Never had problem with too little memory, just with too many apps that run in background without ''reason''...

                                  • O
                                  • OSasmatteroffact
                                  • tEZ
                                  • 29 Apr 2018

                                  For laptop it's depends on vendor, i7 7800HK able to perform 64GB RAM but of course the price is expensive. While the standard 7700HQ has support 32GB already but price is still pricey too for mid to low end, there's cheaper option such as Ryzen 3 which has already support 32GB of RAM.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • sEF
                                    • 29 Apr 2018

                                    Shanti Dope, 29 Apr 20184GB RAM on smartphones People 2015: Are you serious? Dam... moredann true strory!

                                      AnonD-754505, 29 Apr 2018This is absolute hogwash. Micron only sells to bulk custom... moreI'd gladly tell you the specs of my PDA. (Renamed it. as K-T (full name is kept in the system) cannot be entered here for some reason)
                                      If you wish.
                                      https://anotepad.com/note/read/4ndgk7

                                        Shanti Dope, 29 Apr 20184GB RAM on smartphones People 2015: Are you serious? Dam... moreWell, consider technology moving pretty fast these days and app itself also going HD, and then there's also apps running on the background as well as many apps being open in the same time.

                                        RAM is pretty essential and 4GB of ram really doesn't do well with nowadays phone (especially the flagship one)!

                                          4 of 6