As 2023 comes to a close, many still believe that 8GB of RAM is enough for a modern smartphone, based on last week’s survey results. If 8GB seems tight, it’s the Android skin and inefficient apps that are to blame more often than not.
The other large group of voters prefers to have 12GB of RAM: some see it as the minimum, others as a future-proof solution as system requirements tend to increase over the years. And as we saw in a recent survey, half of our readers want to keep their new phones for at least 4 years, so it’s prudent to future-proof.
Even then, there were some comments stating that 12GB and more is primarily intended for gamers: modern AAA games are among the most demanding tasks for a smartphone, especially as developers push more detailed character models and maps. The GPU also takes care of part of the system, unlike a typical desktop where it often has dedicated VRAM.
There is some interest in 16GB – even more future-proof – but RAM capacities above 12GB or below 8GB are not in high demand. In fact, more people chose the “doesn’t matter” option than those who chose “more than 16GB.”
But it’s important to highlight the low end too: unless it’s a budget model, most people will balk at a phone that only has 4GB and even 6GB of RAM. Again, it’s subject to software (both the manufacturer’s and user-installed software), but less than 8GB is inconveniently limited.
This brings us to the second question: More often than not, cheap phones with limited system RAM are the ones that come with bold claims of large virtual RAM capacities. It sure looks good in ads, but it turns out it doesn’t do much for users.
Only 5% say they have felt the benefits of virtual RAM. Many others (a third of voters) are uncertain: they have enabled it, but cannot definitively confirm that it brings any benefit. Most users simply keep virtual RAM disabled.
Long story short, there is no substitute for actual RAM, and 8GB isn’t too much to ask.
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