Cashify Explains: Breaking Myths About RAM, Do You Actually Need 12GB RAM In Your Smartphone?

While today’s topic is something different from our regular discussions, you might have already read it from the title, today we will be busting some myths about RAM in smartphones, and let you know in detail about What RAM is?, How does it Work? Importance of RAM in a smartphone? Smartphones with Highest RAM in India and a lot more. That being said, let’s dive deep into the topic.

What is RAM?

Starting with the basics, RAM, which stands for Random Access Memory, is one of the most important assets of one’s PC, smartphone, Laptop, and whatnot. RAM is a speedy type of memory which temporarily stores all the information your Smartphone or PC needs right now and shortly.

It’s where your smartphone loads up all the things it thinks it will be required by the user or the apps that a user uses more frequently. So that when it does need something, it can read it super fast, also, it’s quite different from your usual system’s storage, like its hard drive or an SSD, where information is stored for long term. 

Having enough RAM matters and having RAM that doesn’t become slow is a good idea, especially if you plan on doing complicated image or video editing tasks, or playing games that tend to be CPU limited.

However, when it comes to improving your system’s overall performance, it’s crucial to weigh up the costs involved. A faster CPU or graphics card is almost always going to have a more significant impact on your system’s overall speed than speedier memory. Now that said, let’s start busting out some common myths about RAM.

Also read: Mobile phones with Highest RAM

Myth: “My RAM is Never Full”

First, Some people feel “My RAM is never full, so I don’t need more RAM“, but it’s not true. Every app has a minimum amount of RAM it requires to function, but what about the maximum?

Let us explain to you in detail, the maximum amount of RAM needed for a specific application, let it be PUBG or even the Dialer Application, is not expressed in mega or gigabytes.

Instead, it is shown in the available percentage of total RAM. Let’s manifest it out with an example, suppose you have 4GB of RAM on your smartphone, and some applications max usage is roughly 10%; that is, it can use up to approximately 350-400MB.

In contrast, the same application with an 8GB of RAM will double the amount of memory available for an app, which is up to 700-800MB for the same example. So theoretically, increasing RAM size can benefit performance and result in faster speeds. 

Myth: “RAM Size is all that Matters”

Secondly, people say RAM Size is all that matters, but it’s not true. Similar to PC’s where the CPU Clock Speed is not that all matters, when it comes to heavy usage, just keeping on stacking more and more amounts of RAM won’t help much in boosting the performance.

Suppose you are doing an essential and massive task, you may feel that If I do the job on a phone with about 12GB of RAM, I’ll be able to do it faster, this is not true in all the cases.

If you are doing a massive task, and your RAM is half empty, then just upgrading the same smartphone with higher RAM capacity won’t help, you should upgrade to a smartphone with a better processor and a higher RAM frequency to squeeze out more performance from the CPU and GPU of the chipset.

Myth: “If RAM is Empty, it’s Good”

Next, some of you feel that “If RAM is empty, it’s good“. But If you used an Android smartphone, you might’ve come across certain apps such as “Ram booster” or “Memory cleaner” or something similar to like that.

Why would anyone want to clean their ram, why unloading apps and processes from it?, Well, this comes from a misunderstanding of the concept of RAM works. Most of you think that RAM is data storage.

While this is correct, and that is how it works if it’s full, then it must be cleared, but it should be vice versa — RAM should not be empty. If it’s empty, then it’s not doing the task; it was put in there for storing data for quick access anytime.

And by removing something from memory which is called clearing, users might actually slow down the performance of the device. 

Also read: Top Camera Smartphones in India

Let me explain you with an example. Suppose you open Instagram about 5 times in an hour, the Smartphone feels that you might need it very soon, so it loads the data of Instagram into RAM.

To be clear with the loading speeds, next time when you open Instagram, the startup will take, let’s say, 1 second. But if you delete Instagram’s data from RAM by clearing its data, the next startup can take about one or two seconds longer!

While some of you might feel it’s a very crude example, but its a very vivid one. In most cases, Operating systems like iOS have pretty good RAM management. They can take care of themselves, freeing it of heavy apps from memory automatically when you don’t use it excessively.

Of course, this matter is pretty complicated, and there are people and articles over the web, which might be able to explain this to you in greater detail. Still, we are just trying to provide a kind of oversimplified example to make all this concept understandable and bust the myths.

Smartphones with the highest amount of onboard RAM:

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra:

The first smartphone on our list is the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. It comes with a 12GB RAM, not only the RAM size is significant in number, but also all the specifications are enormous in terms of the numbers.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra comes with a 6.9-inch QHD+ 120Hz AMOLED Display, a capable quad-camera setup on the rear comprising of a primary 108-megapixel sensor, a 48-megapixel 100X Zoom lens which Samsung feels right to call as Space Zoom, a third 12-megapixel Wide-Angled lens along with a ToF Sensor. All these specifications, combined with Samsung’s usual processing, shoot some great images.

The phone is powered by Samsung’s flagship Exynos 990 Chipset, which Gamers hate, yeah it’s true. The phone is high on its battery capacity sporting a 5,000mAh battery under the hood with support for 45-watt fast charging. If you need an “Ultra” smartphone with “Ultra” specifications, the S20 Ultra is there for you. Cool, isn’t it?

Also read: Galaxy S20 vs S20+ vs S20 Ultra

OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition:

Moving on, another smartphone with 12GB of RAM is the OnePlus 7T Pro Mclaren Edition. Shipping with a 6.67-inch 2K 90Hz Fluid AMOLED Display, this OnePlus smartphone Mclaren Edition offers its users 12GB RAM capabilities.

When it comes to the cameras as well, the 7T Pro shines with a primary 48-megapixel sensor, an 8-megapixel 3x Telephoto lens, and a 16-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens on the rear. It’s powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ Chipset and performs well in all aspects. With a 4,085mAh battery and an unusual pop-up camera mechanism, the OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition is an excellent value for money smartphone with 12GB of RAM onboard.

Also read: OnePlus 7T Pro Review

ASUS ROG Phone 2:

Next in the line is the ASUS ROG Phone 2, a professionally built gaming smartphone that also comes with up to 12GB of RAM under the hood. It was also one of the first smartphones to ship with a 120Hz display panel, shocking around the world with its pricing.

Where the specifications are concerned, The ROG Phone 2 packs in a 6.59-inch FHD+ OLED Display panel with a 120Hz Refresh Rate. The smartphone is just not a casual phone, but its gaming smartphone with unique additions like Air Triggers and more. Also, as it’s a gaming smartphone, one may require more RAM than usual, and here’s where the 12GB of RAM comes into play.

While most of you might know the ROG Phone 2 has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ Chipset and a dual-rear camera setup comprising of a primary 48-megapixel shooter, and a secondary 13-megapixel ultra-wide angled lens. The battery size is vast as well, coming in at 6,000mAh. This is our go-to recommendation for gamers who need a smartphone with 12GB of RAM.

Also read: ASUS ROG Phone 2 Review

That is pretty much it for this, hope you liked the content and make sure to share this article with your friends and family who have some myths in their mind about RAM.

Update:

Good low RAM phones – Redmi Note 7 Pro

The Redmi Note 7 Pro aka the camera beast is one amongst the best 4GB RAM phones available in the Indian market. With a 4GB RAM, which is the minimum RAM requirement for a decent experience, this phone is able to function well within expectations. It comes with a flagship level 48MP + 5MP AI Dual rear camera with Sony IMX586 camera sensor. With its Aura design and gradient reflective glass back finish, this smartphone is accompanied by some stunning features ranging from Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor, a single charge 4000mAh two-day battery with a Quick Charge Support by Qualcomm Quick Charge 4, high durability with a Type-C charging port and a 6.3” FHD+ Dot Notch Display. The handset remains unaffected by drops and scratches because of the Corning ️Gorilla Glass 5. This phone comes in Space Black, Neptune Blue and Nebula Red.