Android phone RAM can no longer be rolled up, good quality and low price are the best

As the 2022 Android flagships debut one after another, the Galaxy S22 series, which debuts as the finale of the spring, has naturally attracted much attention. Not long ago, some configurations of the Galaxy S22 Ultra have been exposed. It is reported that the starting RAM version of this model will drop from 12GB to 8GB. Compared with the previous practice of Samsung flagship models to climb to 16GB RAM, perhaps the RAM of Android phones really can't be rolled up.

RAM volume is not moving

At the end of the year, I believe that many units have also started the annual year-end summary trend. In the process of summarizing, the problem of volume naturally exists. Those with more words are definitely better than those with fewer words, those who brag about their performance are better than those who face reality, and those who make a PPT presentation are definitely better than those who write a Word document. The RAM parameters of Android phones, as an indicator that has been tied to ROM for many years and sold as a product model option, were naturally once wildly involuted by mobile phone manufacturers.

Android phones once experienced an explosive growth in RAM. Taking Samsung phones as an example, the standard RAM of the international version of the Galaxy S8 is 4GB, and only a 6GB version was provided specifically for the domestic version at that time. In the Galaxy S10 series, 8GB RAM became standard. It should be noted that in the Galaxy S9 series, the RAM configuration strategy similar to that of the S8 is still being continued. In the Galaxy S20 series, 12GB RAM has become the starting configuration, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra has increased to 16GB RAM. At that time, some analysts even asserted that the popularization of 16GB would only be a matter of time. And there were also many models equipped with 16GB RAM, such as Xiaomi Black Shark 4S Pro, Asus ZenFone 8, ZTE Axon 30 Ultra, Oppo Find X3 Pro, etc.

Higher hardware configuration parameters can naturally bring a more intuitive performance impression to consumers. However, in 2021, the RAM parameters of Android phones have shown a trend of being unable to roll up. The starting RAM of the Galaxy S21 model has dropped to 8GB, which was even once jokingly called a "reverse upgrade" by netizens. But today, 8GB RAM seems to have become the most reasonable standard configuration considered by many brands.

Universally wasted RAM

According to the conclusion made by the foreign media Android Authority after recent testing, for current Android models, 6GB is the most basic configuration to ensure the experience, 8GB can already bring a good multi-tasking experience and can cope with some higher performance requirements in the future. 12GB is the key point of RAM configuration at present, which can achieve an overall balance between experience and power. 16GB has no practical significance and is more of a parameter show-off.

Even considering the current abuse of permissions in the domestic application market, 8GB of RAM can obviously provide users with a good experience. This may be one of the reasons why Android phone manufacturers dare to stop involution on this parameter.

Speaking of this, let's take a look at Apple's RAM strategy on the iOS platform, which is completely different from the internal circulation of the Android camp. In today's latest iPhone 13 series, the RAM of iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini is only 4GB, and the two models of the iPhone 13 Pro series are 6GB. Such parameters are simply not enough for the Android platform. But the iPhone can bring a smoother and more stable user experience.

What’s even more interesting is the iPad OS platform. Although Apple configured 8GB and 16GB of RAM on the 2021 iPad Pro equipped with the M1 chip, Apple limited the RAM usage to 5GB. It was not until the release of iPad OS 15 that Apple relaxed this setting to 12GB of RAM. This may also confirm the conclusion of the 12GB key point drawn by Android Authority.

Speaking of the M1 chip, Apple has even changed people's perception of RAM on computing platforms. Through the architecture of sharing memory resources between the CPU core and the GPU core, more users no longer need higher RAM capacities than before. The 8GB configuration is already capable of handling the tasks of the previous 16GB, and even brings faster processing speeds. Combined with the overall packaging, the physical communication distance is shortened, and ultra-low memory access latency is directly achieved, greatly improving the communication efficiency between chips.

It is not difficult to see that there is still a lot of room for improvement in the use and understanding of RAM for the Android platform. Too much RAM is an obvious waste of resources, which is contrary to the concept pursued by mobile devices, and consumers need to pay for it.

The reason why Android phones stopped RAM involution may also be related to the signs of price cuts that have already appeared. The Xiaomi 12 Pro and OnePlus 10 Pro that have been released have controlled costs, castrated the IP68 function, and are no longer overly stacked in configuration parameters, but have both reduced their starting prices by 300 yuan.

By controlling the already wasted RAM, it will undoubtedly bring more room for price discounts. At the same time, with the improvement of AI computing power in current mobile platforms, it also provides new ideas for mobile phone manufacturers on how to handle task processes.

It is undoubtedly a good thing to stop internal competition. Pointless waste will harm both others and oneself.