How Much RAM Does Your Smartphone Really Need?

Many consumers believe that the more RAM a smartphone has, the better its performance. Let's explore whether this is truly the case.

The amount of RAM in mobile devices has been increasing rapidly. Not long ago, we marveled at multitasking capabilities on smartphones with 2 GB of RAM, and today, devices with 6 or even 8 GB are becoming common.

But is such a large amount of RAM genuinely necessary? Spoiler alert: not always.

Android Smartphones

It's well-known that more RAM allows more apps to run simultaneously. However, RAM is also used for several essential system functions:

1. Android runs on a Linux kernel, which is stored in a compressed file and loaded into RAM during startup. This reserved memory area contains the kernel, drivers, and modules that control device components.
2. RAM is allocated for a virtual file system that holds dynamic information like battery level and CPU frequency, recreated every time the device boots.
3. Settings data such as IMEI and modem configurations are stored in non-volatile memory but loaded into RAM at startup to ensure modem functionality.
4. Graphics processors in smartphones lack dedicated memory, so a portion of RAM is reserved as VRAM for graphical operations.

After these system needs, the remaining RAM is divided between the operating system's interface and running applications. A portion remains free to accommodate launching new apps, and when free RAM decreases, inactive apps are closed to free up space.

Currently, the OS reserves about 1 GB of RAM for its operations. While this can vary slightly between manufacturers, this is the average figure.

For smooth multitasking, having 5–7 apps running simultaneously typically requires 700–900 MB of RAM, plus an additional 300–400 MB free for launching new apps.

Therefore, around 3 GB of RAM is sufficient for most everyday tasks on Android smartphones.

Upgrading to 4 or 6 GB may not provide noticeable speed improvements or a 'wow' factor for typical users.

However, as software becomes more demanding and operating systems reserve more memory, having 6 GB of RAM might become useful in the future. For now, paying extra for additional gigabytes is unnecessary.

iPhone

The situation is different with iPhones. Apple's proprietary operating system and hardware allow for high optimization, so they don't need to increase RAM as frequently.

The current flagship, iPhone 7 Plus, comes with a modest 3 GB of RAM, while the standard iPhone 7 has 2 GB. Older models like the iPhone 6 and 5s have only 1 or 2 GB, yet they continue to run recent iOS versions smoothly.

This demonstrates that 2 GB of RAM is currently adequate for iPhones, with 3 GB providing a comfortable buffer for future updates.

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