Weekly poll results: 8-12GB of RAM is the sweet spot for current smartphones

10 December 2023
Nearly half of voters would buy a phone with 8GB, around a third want more - 12GB. But few feel the need for more (and few are okay with less).

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Blamed googl.. for making newer OS become more memory demanding.
Especially the Chrome browser...

    • D
    • Dave. H
    • raQ
    • 10 Dec 2023

    Yes, 8GB is enough for my use.

    Sometimes it seems that Google makes the OS artificially more inefficient in managing RAM to require more and more memory with each new version.

      LosEstupido, 10 Dec 2023You don't need more than 8GB RAM if you're gonna ... moresome switch games use as much as 20GB ram with bigger shader cache like Legend of Zelda totk.

      And don't forget phone ram is shared between GPU and ram so if GPU need more Vram at same time even 24GB won't be enough and your phone will lag at that scenario.

        Anonymous, 10 Dec 2023This topic is getting off-track. We are talking about smar... moreThat was 2023, AI eat lot of ram, next gen phone will need them and average user too will use AI especially in editing and photography related features. Currently pixel 8 pro upload your photos online to apply some AI magic but phones like S24 and other sd 8 gen 3 devices will have on device AI so lot of ram will be needed.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • 0Uh
          • 10 Dec 2023

          I have 12gb ram on my S20 5G . When i would some smartphone smaller or at least the same size and the same quality screen ( QHD) and same or better ram (12gb) i would change that.

            You can still survive with 8gb these days, especially if you are not gamer. But 8gb is now everywhere, even on cheap phones. Basically software treats 8gb as normal now. Anything than 8gb should be preferable these days.

              • A
              • AlienNextDoor
              • 0mU
              • 10 Dec 2023

              I think you should have separated 4 and 6 gb.
              I use 12gb because of Switch emulation, but I believe even 6gb is more than enough for the average user, whereas 4gb really isn't.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • 0cB
                • 10 Dec 2023

                1TB/16GB for phones 2TB/32GB for laptops. Great configuration for me.

                  LosEstupido, 10 Dec 2023You don't need more than 8GB RAM if you're gonna ... moreHave you bothered to read the quoted part? AI is gonna be integrated in even the smallest parts of flagship phones, whether you like it or not. I bet you'll be able to disable it only by scrambling through developer options or even flashing the thing.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • YYX
                    • 10 Dec 2023

                    Anonymous, 10 Dec 2023That's an extremely niche use case though, as I'm... moreThey think the world revolves around them, lol.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • vxm
                      • 10 Dec 2023

                      More RAM equals less excuse to optimize Apps that eats RAM.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • I@H
                        • 10 Dec 2023

                        This topic is getting off-track. We are talking about smartphones, so don't bring up Windows. We are talking about RAM for iOS and Android. With that said, iOS requires less RAM than Android. Most smartphone users probably 90% of them only use their phone for social media, email, calls, text, camera, and playing casual games. 8 GB is enough for them, which is about 90% of the users.

                          Depends on use, really. I have 3 years old flagship (P30 Pro) with 6 GB, and never encountered a problem. EMUI is silky smooth and apps (few light games included) I use, never lag.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • 4BT
                            • 10 Dec 2023

                            LosEstupido, 10 Dec 2023You don't need more than 8GB RAM if you're gonna ... moreAlso no option for phone game to lower resolution

                              walkman8, 10 Dec 2023The more the better. For now 12 gb is okay, but in my nex... moreYou don't need more than 8GB RAM if you're gonna do basic tasks on your phone.
                              And you don't need more than 16GB RAM if you're gonna do intensive editing and gaming on your phone.

                              24GBs is already overkill, at least for now.

                                Not only does Virtual RAM barely affect performance on Android, but also can potentially shorten the storage chip's lifespan.

                                You'd be better off having a 12GB RAM Phone with no Virtual RAM than a 6GB RAM Phone with 6GB Virtual RAM.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 4BT
                                  • 10 Dec 2023

                                  So blame targeting advertisers for stuff/ data link to you forcing you to use more ram

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 4BT
                                    • 10 Dec 2023

                                    Half voter are wrong I’m on iphone 12 4gb ram no it’s bad software required for ram. Why pc only thing can change ram required on app your using maybe game should option how much ram it need to run

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • n4u
                                      • 10 Dec 2023

                                      For regular user 6gb, advanced 8gb and for gamer(especially switch emulator gamer)12gb ram is enough.

                                      In the future maybe we need more ram if AI(locally on the phone) and AR glasses(wirelessly connected to the phone via Wifi 7/8 or using phone as a pc will become thing(yes there are Samsung Dex and others with desktop mode but sad fact is that software support is not there yet for using phone for more advanced use cases unless people are going to pay for cloud pc like Shadow).

                                        The more the better.
                                        For now 12 gb is okay, but in my next phone 32 gb is a minimum. Why?

                                        "Macquarie has issued a report on the required RAM capacity to run on-device AI on smartphones, and it's intriguing.

                                        1) The typical current smartphone is equipped with around 8GB of RAM.
                                        2) On-device AI devices with image generation capabilities require approximately 12GB of RAM.
                                        3) Devices featuring digital AI assistant functions need around 20GB of RAM.

                                        The era of high-capacity RAM becoming essential for smartphones is approaching. We should no longer settle for 16GB of RAM."

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