How Much Ram Does a Smartphone Need in 2023?

10 years ago, an average smartphone came with 128 MB to 1 GB of RAM, but now a phone comes with anywhere from 4 to 16GB of RAM. Manufacturers also like to show how fast the phone is by showing how much RAM it has. On the other hand, we have iPhones, which come with 4 to 6GB Ram, even on their flagship devices, and perform just as well as any Android flagship. So what is the equation between Speed and RAM? How Much Ram Does a Smartphone Need in 2023? let’s find out.

What is the Use of RAM?

RAM is used for storing anything that a processor might need to access quickly. this includes the current and recent apps that you opened/used, System services like launcher, quick settings tiles, Background services, music player, etc. if we have more RAM, we will be able to store more apps, or services. That in turn, reduces the number of apps that needs to be reloaded, increasing the responsiveness of the device.

when the RAM is filled, and we open new apps, some of the unused, unneeded apps are transferred to the storage/removed from the ram altogether, to make room for the new app. If we have more RAM, it will open more apps before they need to be thrown out before adding a new app. Once an app is closed, it needs to be reloaded again.

However, the free RAM is sort of misleading. Most RAMs, irrespective of the OS, use around 99% of the available RAM, the ‘free’ RAM that we see in the Task manager/ Running services ETC. the amount of RAM that is easily Disposable, to make room for a new APP. Going by this, having a little more RAM than what you need might be a good thing.

Does having more RAM increase speed

The amount of RAM does not Significantly increase the performance/speed of your phone, unless you use apps/ features that can actually use so much RAM, which is very rare, or non-existence most of the time, with apps such as Dex being the only worthy exceptions. it can however speed up the apps if you use many apps at the same time, usually above 8-12 which is very rare, and hence, in real life, there is only a little performance gain.

A really easy way to improve the performance of your device, without actually changing the hardware of your low-end/mid-range Android device is by removing the unwanted apps and features that run in the background. removing these apps not only improves the performance by enabling the phone to keep more apps in the memory but also the battery life, as the processor has less work to do. If you too want to get these benefits, then follow this guide on removing Android bloatware using Universal android debloater.

Pros and Cons of having more RAM

How much free RAM do I need?

free RAM is the amount of RAM that is unused, ie the amount of ram that is free for apps to use. there is a widespread misconception that free ram is a good thing. however, this is not the case in real life. it is often found that people complain about free ram. In fact, RAMs are usually filled up to 98.5 percent, with stuff like redundant animations for the processor to access. The term ‘free RAM refers to the amount of RAM that can be easily discarded without worrying, like the apps you opened earlier. so in effect, free ram does not matter, as long as you have an

How Much Ram Does a Smartphone Need in 2023?

on a budget phone

4 GB is enough for a mobile phone selling under 12k, as of 2023. Even 3GB can be useful if the phone comes for under 7.5k, as the phones won’t be optimized for multitasking anyways, and It is a general trend that phones that give large amounts of RAM in this range usually have very Bad processors, which make the mobile phones borderline unusable. Do keep in mind that you can keep almost 5 Medium Apps in the background, or 1 Large game like PUBG.

on a midrange phone

6GB is the ideal RAM you should be getting in a mid-range Android phone, that comes with a mid-range processor and costs from 15-30k. If there are offers on mobile phones with 4GB RAM and better processors, it won’t be a bad option either. But having 6 GB is ideal, as it also futureproofs the device. You can play a large game, as well as keep 3 or more apps in the Ram, ll at the same time, which is more than enough for almost everyone.

on a high-end phone

6-8 GB with exceptions to S series Samsung phones, as they have dex mode, which can effectively use a high amount of RAM. we may think that Flagship smartphones with the highest-end processors might need more than 6GB ram, but the fact is, there is not much software for Android/IOS that can utilize that much amount of RAM, unlike PCs and MacBooks, which have many workflows that will benefit from large amounts of RAM.

The reason Samsung Phones Get a Pass on this is that, unlike other Phones, Samsung Offers DEX mode, which can make the phone power up a TV/ High res display as a computer with Desktop class UI, multitasking support, etc, which will use the high amount of RAM that s22 phones are shipped with.

what is Extended RAM?

Many smartphones, both high and low-end ones, come with an ‘extended’ RAM feature now. The way these OEMs phrase these Features, it may feel like having 8GB of Ram, even though the Phone actually has 4 or 6 GB of RAM. In actuality, this is an existing technology, called swapping in Linux and Paging in Windows. the OS takes a portion of the secondary storage as virtual RAM, which acts like RAM, but is much slower than Actual RAM. This does not help in using large Applications, but rather in moving unnecessary applications out of the RAM.

Android Phones did not have this feature even though they ran on the Linux kernel, is because of the storage. swapping requires frequent writes to the ROM, which reduces the longevity of the storage. Phones like s22 ultra will not experience this, as they have the latest UFS 3.2 storage, which is not much affected by the degradation. If you have a phone with EXFAT/older UFS storage, it might be a good idea to turn off the service.

Conclusion

Considering you will use your mobile phone for a maximum of 5 years, and will only play a maximum of 2 games simultaneously, 6 GB/8GB ram might be enough for an Android device, much like the IOS devices. If it were not for the Cat race between OEMS, this might have been the case too. As of now, we have no other options, and if you are on a tight budget, then go with a 4GB smartphone, else go with an 8GB model.