How Much RAM Does A Smartphone Really Need?

With the advent of modern sophisticated apps, heavy graphic demanding games, and many other high spec tools, gone are the days when a smart phone with just 56mb RAM and a single core processor of about 300MHZ could freely run, multi-task, and serve all our needs without trouble.

Today, even a smart phone with about 1GB RAM and a moderate dual core processor of about 1000MHZ (1GHZ) is insufficient.

If you know what I’m talking about...

When talking about a fast smart phone, the major things that come into play are; the RAM, the processor, and the GPU.

Now, with the advent of modern technology, there is an advancement in the system requirements of smart phones to smoothly run modern apps, but due to lack of awareness, a lot of people place the RAM as the only benchmark of a smart phone’s performance and thus, the popularity of the question: “How much RAM does a smart phone really need?”.

Well...While the RAM is one of the major benchmarks of a smart phone’s performance, there are other things involved too.

They determine if you need a smart phone with more RAM, or not!

Now, without wasting much time, let us go through these things that determine the amount of RAM a smart phone really needs.

1. Supporting Processor:

What is a processor?

You can call this the brain of your smart phone.

It manages the available memory (RAM), and handles everything that happens in a smart phone, ranging from the processes, services, tasks, e.t.c.

They are measured by the amount of instructions they can carry out within a given time, which is in MHZ, or GHZ.

The higher the MHZ, or GHZ of your processor, the faster your smart phone, and the better its ability to manage the available RAM, although this depends on the number of cores available.

Smart phones that have processors with more cores will always perform better, and multi-task without lag.

Like I have aforementioned; Although the RAM is one of the major things when talking about a smart phone’s performance, the processor remains the most important component.

A lot of people do not know of the processor, as they possess less knowledge about it, but it remains an important part of a smart phone’s performance.

Having a poor processor will always lead to less performance.

It is in charge of everything (i.e, It allows you to browse the internet, chat on social media, and carry out every other task).

Your smart phone would be dead without it.

If your smart phone comes with a very fast processor, then It would be able to completely utilize the available RAM for better performance, so consider checking the processor of a smart phone, before purchasing it.

Snapdragon mobile processors are better than Mediatek processors, so consider saving for smart phones with them.

You can check their detailed comparison by clicking here: Snapdragon Vs Mediatek Processors.

2. Available GPU (Graphic Processing Unit):

Have you ever heard of the graphics processing unit in a smart phone.

Well, just as the name implies, this unit handles everything pertaining to the graphics, and multimedia processes of a smart phone.

It lightens the load on a smart phone’s processor while running graphic demanding games, and other heavy 3d apps.

When you open a high graphic game, the GPU handles everything about the textures, colours, and all the graphics, while the processor handles everything about the game calculations, artificial intelligence, and other background stuffs.

The optimization and architecture of GPUs and CPUs are the same, but the GPUs are geared towards graphics.

There are two types of Graphic Processing Units:

·         Integrated Graphics

·         Dedicated Graphics

The dedicated graphic cards are only found in desktop computers and laptops, whereas, the integrated graphic cards are mostly used in smart phones.

These kind of graphic cards are integrated in the central processing unit, and are less effective, when compared to the dedicated graphics, which on the other hand, have their own dedicated VRAM (Dedicated Video Memory).

Just like every other important component in a smart phone, the GPU plays a vital role in the performance of a smart phone, so a poor graphic processor will always lead to reduced performance.

Remember; With a good GPU, the work load on your smart phone processor would be lightened, when running heavy 3d applications, and high graphic games, and it would lead to better performance.

Some Good Graphics Processors For Smart phones:

Without wasting much time, let us take a quick look at some very good GPUs for smart phones.

·         PowerVR GT7XT Series (The PowerVR GT7XT is one of the fastest smartphone processors today).

·         Qualcomm Adreno 540

·         Mali-G71 MP20

·         Qualcomm Snapdragon 660

·         ARM Mali-G72 MP12

Aside from the processor and the GPU, always make sure you have enough free space, so that your device can operate freely.

Now, with all the texts written so far, here’s the final answer to the question: “How Much RAM Does A Smart phone Really Need?”

Well. With a fast processor, a good GPU, and enough free ROM Space, a smart phone with about 2GB RAM and above would deliver an excellent performance in this modern era.