1GB devices will no longer be allowed to run full Android

Jul 23, 2020 14:35 GMT  ·  By

While Apple sticks with insanely-low amounts of RAM, things are completely different in the Android ecosystem where OEMs are reaching new highs with every generation.

But while the majority of Android device manufacturers are already offering at least 4GB of RAM on their products, there are also other companies targeting the low-end market that still stick with 1GB of RAM.

Needless to say, a phone that comes with just 1GB of RAM isn’t by any means a productivity workhorse, but in most of the cases, such a device doesn’t cost more than $100 in the first place.

So it goes without saying that a smartphone that cheap shouldn’t be considered anything else than a dumb phone with some smart capabilities, like running an Internet browser, email, and simple apps like Facebook or WhatsApp.

On the other hand, all these devices not only that create more fragmentation in the Android ecosystem, as very often they end up running an old version of the operating system, but also affect the experience with the platform in the first place.

And Google is about to change this once and for all.

Devices running Android 10 and Android 11 would no longer be allowed to use less than 2GB of RAM. In other words, if an OEM wants to build a new Android smartphone, this must have at least 2GB of RAM to be allowed to run Google’s operating system, as discovered recently.

This is good news from a wide variety of reasons, but the most obvious is that users would be provided with better performance on these devices out of the box.

On the other hand, some believe that this could bring an increase in prices for the low-end Android devices, and while this is indeed likely to happen, I don’t necessarily expect a major price hike, especially as the phone memory isn’t really that expensive. So if there’s a price increase, it shouldn’t be more than $10, depending on the profit margin that the parent company is seeking.

The change will come into effect in the fourth quarter of the year and devices that are already on the market won’t be affected. In other words, if you’re already using an Android smartphone that has just 1GB, nothing will change for you, as the device will continue to work and receive updates just like before.

But at the same time, new devices with 1GB of RAM won’t be banned completely either. Whoever wants to build such a low-end model would be considered an Android Go device manufacturer – Android Go is Google’s operating system aimed at low-end devices and was originally supposed to be used on devices with less than 1GB of RAM.

However, Google is now increasing the limit, so any device that comes with less than 2GB of RAM would have to stick with Android Go. This is good news for those interested in such devices, as the move essentially means that more smartphones running Android Go would hit the market at even better prices.

Google forcing low-end device manufacturers to improve the specs of their smartphones is something really good for the future of Android, especially as the ecosystem is growing periodically.

Depending on who you ask, Android is running on 7 or 8 out of 10 smartphones out there, and it goes without saying that not all of them are high-end devices. With better specs, these phones should be able of offering a better experience from one end to another on Android, something that could eventually improve the customer satisfaction on Google’s platform.