14 DAY TRIAL // It's very clear that 4GB RAM inside a smartphone is nothing out of the ordinary these days, especially if we're talking about a flagship device.
But a few years ago that amount of memory to be packed in the mobile phone was something incomprehensible. Since the companies making these smartphones are now racing for supremacy on the market, new technologies are now developed much faster than a few years ago.
That's why Samsung's announcement that it has started to mass produce the industry's first 12GB LPDDR4 mobile DRAM shouldn't surprise anyone anymore.
“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,” said Joo Sun Choi, executive vice president of Memory Sales and Marketing at Samsung Electronics.
Which smartphone will be packed with 6GB RAM first?
If we are to compare the previous 20nm-based 8GB LPDDR4 with the new 12GB version, it's worth mentioning that the latter is more than 30% faster at more than 4,266 Mbps, and is twice as fast as DDR4 DRAM for PCs, while consuming 20% less energy.
Moreover, Samsung confirmed that manufacturing productivity of the 12GB LPDDR4 has been increased more than 50% over that of 20nm-class 8GB LPDDR4.
The new 12GB LPDDR4 will allow for 3GB or 6GB of mobile DRAM in a single package using just two chips and four chips respectively.
Samsung also states that the next flagships smartphone that come with 6GB of LPDDR4 mobile DRAM will enable users to enjoy an enhanced multitasking experience and maximum performance.
More importantly, Samsung highlights the fact that the 6GB package easily fits into the same space now used for 3GB LPDDR4 packages.