Smartphone RAM

What does it do?

Just like in a PC, a smartphone’s RAM is the short-term memory that stores temporary information. It’s like a shopping list on a scrap of paper, which is essential while you’re in the shop but can be thrown away when you’ve finished.

How does it work?

In phones, RAM is a microchip (like

Samsung’s LPDDR5 chip, pictured) that’s permanently attached to the phone’s motherboard. While the RAM has power it can remember anything, up to its capacity. Information can be stored for as long as it’s needed or until the phone is switched off.

What are the specs?

Capacity is measured in gigabytes (GB) and the big question is how much RAM do you need? This depends on what you want to do on your phone. Simple phone tasks such as making calls, barely need any RAM; browsing the web and watching videos need a medium amount; and some games will use as much as is available to make gameplay faster and slicker.

It also depends on the operating system. Apple’s IOS doesn’t need as much RAM to run because it works on a small number of specific devices. IOS 14, Apple’s latest operating system, can run on an iphone 6s, which only has 2GB of RAM. It will run quicker on later models with more RAM, though.

Android is designed to run on a broader range of devices, so it isn’t as finely tuned. As a result it needs more RAM to run itself before you even open an app or a game. 4GB is a bare minimum for a modern Android phone, though we’d recommend getting a phone with more than that. The more RAM it has, the better the phone will run.