Currently, the maximum amount of RAM in Android devices is 4GB, which is also not seen commonly. But in future we may see 6GB RAM in Smartphones, thanks to Samsung. The South Korean company recently announced that it has begun mass production of 12Gb LPDDR RAM modules for mobile devices.
Please don’t mix 12Gb with 12 GB because Gb stands for Gigabits and is not the same as Gigabytes. For your knowledge 1 byte = 8 bits, so 12 Gigabits would be equal to 1.5 Gigabytes. Since the smartphones these days have 4 memory dies, so 1.5GB x 4 = 6GB RAM given that SoCs have each die of 12Gb.
Joo Sun Choi, Samsung’s Executive Vice President of Memory Sales and Marketing said regarding 6GB RAM in Smartphones:
“By initiating mass production of 12Gb LPDDR4 mobile DRAM in an extremely timely manner, we now are not only helping OEMs to accelerate their moves to the next generation of mobile devices, but also providing functionality that will give mobile consumers greatly enhanced user experiences.”
The previous 20 nm manufacturing technology of Samsung only yielded 8 Gigabit LPDDR4 RAM chips so a maximum of 4 GB RAM was possible. But, the company is now able to manufacture 12 Gigabit memory chips with its 20 nm technology, which can provide 6GB RAM in Smartphones.
Samsung affirms that the latest chips are faster by 30% as compared to the previous 8GB modules and provide speed of 4266 Mbps per pin. This equates to 34gbps over a typical 64-bit bus. The great news for portable devices is that the new chips consume 20% less power. With Samsung now manufacturing and stocking these new chips, there is a good chance that 6GB RAM in Smartphones could come in 2016.