RAM is a very important factor that decides how fast your smartphone can be. While having low RAM will always slow down your phone, having more than needed RAM doesn’t always result in more performance; and this is why it is really important for you to know how much RAM should be in your new smartphone.

If you don’t know what RAM is, let me simplify that for you, RAM (Random Access Memory) is a physical chip on your phone that stores all your running apps. With more RAM (also called memory), you will be able to run more apps simultaneously on your phone and switching between open apps will be faster and it will result in less reloading.

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Almost all modern smartphones have 1GB to 4GB of RAM. In almost all cases, a more expensive phone will have more RAM as long as it is not an old model. So, to simplify your choosing, here is a straight forward guide to how much RAM do you need for your smartphone.

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512 MB

You should not be going with a phone with 512 MB of RAM. These phones are usually really old branded phones or too cheap Chinese phones. A Phone with RAM this low will not handle modern apps and games. A Phone with just 512 MB of RAM is also likely to come with older version of Android.

Who is 512 MB RAM good for? No one.

1GB

An Android phone or an iPhone with 1GB RAM should be enough to run most apps. Whereas iPhones are optimized to perform well with just 1GB of RAM, Android usually requires more memory to do multitasking properly.

A phone with 1 GB RAM should be able to run a couple of apps (more, in case of lightweight apps) simultaneously. However, if you are a mobile gamer, you should be looking at phones with more RAM. A lot of titles in play store do work, but you will be disappointed with performance if you install newer, heavier games.

The same can be said about web browsing, 1 GB RAM should be enough for you to use a few tabs on Google Chrome for android, however, as the number of tabs increase, you may find that phone reloads the tabs whenever you switch from one to another.

1 GB RAM is OK for a cheap secondary phone, but you should really avoid it if you are going to use phone for your daily driver.

Who is 1GB RAM Good for? People looking for a secondary phone, users with really tight budget.

2 GB

You can think of an android phone with 2GB RAM to be a good budget device. A phone with 2GB of RAM is enough to handle a few open apps, run most games on play store and run latest releases of Android.

Still, it may suffer if you are tossing too many open apps at same time. As you install dozens of apps and games and open a handful of them, the performance will go down. If you are on a tight budget and don’t mind upgrading phone in every couple of years, 2GB should be OK for you, however, don’t expect an Android phone with 2GB RAM to be a performance monster.

Samsung Galaxy J7 has 2 GB RAM

Who is 2 GB RAM good for ? Users with low budget, users that don’t need to do too much multitasking on their phone.

3 GB

With 3GB, we are now talking about performance without breaking the bank, a phone with 3GB RAM is enough to keep many apps open and even multitask when you are playing a game. With a Phone with this amount of RAM, you should be seeing much less app refreshing when you switch between them. Also, this amount of RAM will be enough to not need upgrading because of low RAM for a few more years in future.

You can find many budget android phones in market that come equipped with 3GB of RAM.

Robin is a budget smartphone that has 3GB RAM

Who is 3GB RAM good for? For most moderate to heavy users, users who want to multitask without buying expensive flagship phones.

4 GB

4 GB Android phones are usually flagship such as Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and LG G5. Phones with this much RAM are definitely expensive, but these offer the best performance. Usually people buy a $600 phone because of Camera and other features, not only because of RAM and so should you. 4GB of RAM will keep you covered in running any amount of apps on your phone, heavy and demanding Games and many open browser tabs.

A phone with 4GB RAM may be overkill if you don’t really use many apps and other flagship features of the phone.

LG G5 is LG's Current flagship with 4 GB RAM

Who is 4 GB RAM Good for? Users with really high multitasking needs and no restriction on budget.

More than 4 GB RAM

Just when 4 GB became a standerd for flagship phones, some makers have launched Android phones with 6 GB RAM.

You probably don’t need this amount of RAM, If the phone maker is not charging you a price premium for the phone, it won’t be the worst idea in the world to go with an Android Phone with this amount of memory.