What you need to know
- A new rumor from Digital Chat Station claims that Android phones could have up to 24GB of RAM in the future.
- Future smartphones could also come with 16GB of RAM as the base memory variant.
- The tipster didn't specify any phone brand, but did mention the "Oga" group, which is a reference used for BBK-owned brands like OnePlus and Oppo.
Oppo and OnePlus could significantly increase the amount of RAM on their future smartphones, if a new rumor is to be believed, reviving questions about how much RAM mobile devices really need.
According to Digital Chat Station, "Oga" (machine translated) has started working on a 24GB LPDDR5X memory for smartphones (via Android Authority). Oga appears to be a reference to BBK Electronics-owned brands like Oppo and OnePlus. The tipster even mentions ColorOS, Oppo's own Android skin, in the post.
This means these OEMs could soon ship handsets with 16GB of RAM as the base memory variant. Over the past 10 years, smartphones have seen a dramatic increase in RAM. Nowadays, most handsets have varying RAM sizes, ranging from 8GB for mid-range models to 12GB for premium Android phones. Furthermore, some models from Samsung, Asus, and Oppo have up to 16GB of RAM.
It is important to note that 24GB of RAM is more than what most people need for their smartphones. The average smartphone user only needs around 6GB of RAM. Even for people who do a lot of multitasking or gaming, 16GB of RAM is more than enough.
Of course, there are some downsides to having 24GB of RAM. For example, phones with 24GB of RAM will be more expensive, and users may find that the extra RAM is wasted. So, having 24GB of RAM could mean paying extra for something you don’t need.
The question of how much RAM a smartphone really needs arose when Samsung announced the 16GB LPDDR5 DRAM chip for smartphones in 2020, with a data transfer rate that's 1.3 times faster than LPDDR4X RAM.
Given that smartphones with 16GB of RAM are already available on the market, handsets with a more preposterous amount of memory could only end up wooing consumers with impressive specs, with no real benefit for them.
