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Smartphones With 16 GB of RAM Imminent (Eminent)

Journal by takyon

Black Shark 3 could be the first phone with 16GB of RAM

The most RAM you can get in a smartphone right now is 12GB, but that could soon change, as the Black Shark 3 gaming phone from Xiaomi is rumored to boost that spec to 16GB.

That’s according to Sudhanshu (a leaker on Twitter with a reasonable track record). Of course, whether the Black Shark 3 will be the first phone to arrive with that much RAM depends on when it launches, but with the phone having been rumored for a while – and given that the Black Shark 2 launched in March 2019 – it’s likely that it will arrive soon, possibly at MWC 2020.

Whether or not the Black Shark 3 is first to 16GB, it should make good use of it, as gaming phones need all the power they can get – and with that much RAM, coupled with a top-end chipset (the Snapdragon 865 is likely), it could take us another step closer to console-type power on a phone.

All Galaxy S20 Models Rumored to Feature 12GB LPDDR5 RAM as Part of Their Base Configuration

The tip comes from Ice Universe who claims that the base Galaxy S20 memory configuration will start from 12GB RAM, and it’s not just any other RAM; it’s likely the 12GB LPDDR5 DRAM Samsung announced in July last year. Thanks to a higher data rate, the new mobile memory is 1.5 times faster than LPDDR4x which was featured in previous phones. A new circuit design also makes the new chip more power-efficient as it needs 30 percent less power than its predecessor. With these features, 12GB LPDDR5 RAM will be able to make the best use of the speeds offered by 5G.

Samsung had already announced that the production of 16GB LPDDR5 RAM will begin in 2020, and thus it’s entirely possible that Galaxy S20 memory configuration will go as high as the aforementioned capacity.

Leak Suggests Top Galaxy S20 Ultra Model Will Have 16GB of RAM, Only Variant to Have microSD Card Slot

This is DOA. I need 1,280 GB of RAM in my next smartphone.

Previously: Samsung Begins Mass Producing 12 GB DRAM Packages for Smartphones
Samsung Mass Producing LPDDR5 DRAM (12 Gb x 8 for 12 GB Packages)
Get Ready for Smartphones with 16 GB of RAM

Smartphones With 16 GB of RAM Imminent (Eminent) | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 7 comments | Search Discussion
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  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday January 14 2020, @04:19PM (6 children)

    by Freeman (732) on Tuesday January 14 2020, @04:19PM (#943121) Journal

    It seems that the power gaming on a smartphone market would be pretty small, but I gave up console gaming years ago. So, perhaps that market is a merely, an untapped treasure trove. I like the idea of having a portable computer, but I don't like the idea of having a $1k device that is as easy to lose as a phone. Also, you're much less likely to be mugged for a cheapo phone as compared to something like that.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 14 2020, @04:48PM (5 children)

      by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Tuesday January 14 2020, @04:48PM (#943131) Journal

      There's probably more that can be done with gaming on Android than you might expect (especially emulation [youtube.com]), but none of it is going to require 12-16 GB.

      What we're going to see is more use of smartphone docking. You can already do this today, but I don't know how well phone-oriented Android installations handle it right out of the box. The hardware on a typical mid-range or high-end smartphone can be much more powerful than a Raspberry Pi 4B, which handles desktop duties just fine. Connecting it to a display or TV should provide a GUI that should make multi-tasking easier, and hence you could use more RAM by opening more applications, browser tabs, etc.

      One reason for the absurd RAM amounts coming from companies like Xiaomi is that the Chinese market apparently likes these impressive numbers, even if nobody needs that much RAM. Another thing is that it shouldn't cost that much anyway. If mobile DRAM is about $6/GB [androidauthority.com], that's $96 for 16 GB, which could actually be more than the CPU/SoC [wccftech.com] cost, but still yields a nice margin for an $800 to $1,000 high-end smartphone.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday January 14 2020, @05:10PM

        by Freeman (732) on Tuesday January 14 2020, @05:10PM (#943138) Journal

        Well, with the advent of things like fortnite on Android, I figure it's just a matter of time for there to be even more big games on Android. Unless, the # of users on mobile is abysmally low. Seems like that's not likely to be the case, though. Also, a high end phone could relatively easily be turned into a decent hand held, with aftermarket grips/buttons. But, as you pointed out a docked solution could be quite useful and USB-C could make that easy.

        --
        Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday January 15 2020, @01:08AM (3 children)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 15 2020, @01:08AM (#943380) Homepage Journal

        You've addressed my thought here. I like big numbers when it comes to memory, but I simply don't use all that memory in real use. 16 gig is very unlikely to be used on mobile devices. The real memory hogs live in the server world!

        --
        Hail to the Nibbler in Chief.

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday January 15 2020, @02:04AM

          by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Wednesday January 15 2020, @02:04AM (#943402) Journal

          You could be using more RAM than you expect. Some software limits itself to using a fraction of total system RAM. Boost the amount of RAM, and it can use more. The amount of RAM usage may not reflect the RAM used for disk caching.

          As far as an Android smartphone is concerned, it's easy to load up a bunch of applications and forget to close any of them. You may also want to minimize writes made to the NAND or microSD.

          Memory usage can be as low as 170 MB with RasPi 4B, but if there was an 8 GB option, I would take it. Looks like I will have to wait until at least RasPi 5 for that, though.

          It is still hard to believe that you could use much more than 8 GB fiddling around with a smartphone, without doing something atypical like opening 50 apps [youtube.com]. And there's no way that smartphone games are using as much as their PC and next-gen console counterparts. Even if the RAM pool is shared between the CPU and GPU, 16 GB has got to be overkill.

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

        • (Score: 2) by petecox on Wednesday January 15 2020, @09:20AM (1 child)

          by petecox (3228) on Wednesday January 15 2020, @09:20AM (#943519)

          LPDDR isn't just for phones. Microsoft already sells a tablet device with (up to) 16GB LPDDR4 - albeit with a corresponding price tag.

          2022 may well be the year of the ARM64 Linux desktop! :) Or at least that's what I'd look forward to. (stick 16GB in a $150 ARM nettop and Intel's NUC may have to lift its game)

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