How much RAM do I need in a smartphone?

February 28th 2021

3 mins read

One of the three most important components of our smartphones along with processor and ROM, RAM is one of the foundations of our smartphones. Nowadays smartphone comes with a lot of RAM variations like 2GB, 4GB, 6GB, 8GB, 12GB and even 16GB of RAM but how much RAM do we actually need on our smartphone?

To know how much RAM, we need on our device first we need to understand about RAM. Random-access memory or RAM is one of the memory forms used to store working data of our device to be read and written in almost the same amount of time despite their location on the device memory. Simply if ROM is our storage cabinet where we store all our gadgets then RAM is our working desk where we put the certain gadgets, we need to perform a certain task so, we have quick access to them when we need.

So, how much RAM do I need on my smartphone?

In today's time, 8GB RAM seems more than enough for most of the tasks we perform on our smartphones but the answer may vary in the future and have varied in the past. Four to five years back 4 to 5GB of RAM seemed more than enough for our smartphone but as time progressed the apps on our smartphone began to grow heavier and our smartphones needed more RAM and definitely in the future when the apps will get heavier, we will need more RAM to accumulate that.

Even today if we use our smartphone only for making calls, browsing social media, and do lite gaming on it then 4GB ram will be okay for us but if we are into multitasking, heavy gaming, and using more demanding apps then we should go with 6 or 8GB of RAM.

Image Source: IrisGuardian

In the current context of smartphones 12 and 16GB of RAM seems like overkill and even if we go for 12 or 16 GB of RAM looking towards the future. Therefore, we should know that our smartphones don’t last for long and technological advancement on our smartphone are happening quicker and the current software and processor on our smartphone will get outdated over time.

Also, when talking about RAM where android devices have gone up to 16GB of RAM and more whereas apple products are still running in 4 to 6GB of RAM. It is because they have their operating system and hardware which Apple has full control over and are better optimized but Android OS has more fragmentation and different apps and manufacturers have their settings and data's which uses more RAM. So, at the moment 8GB of RAM seems ideal for heavy users whereas 4 to 6GB of RAM should be enough for the average users.