Maybe Samsung is catering to an audience that doesn’t care about power but wants a high-end phone
Experts say that if Samsung decides to launch a Galaxy S22 Ultra phone with less RAM (random access memory), although it is a “straight downgrade” to the S21 Ultra device, it won’t be a “deal-breaker” for consumers. It will be disappointing, they add, but Samsung has a clear reason to target a certain demographic who want a high-end phone without too many features.
Samsung is expected to unveil the S22 series on February 9, and while the standard and Plus models aren’t expected to change much, the S22 Ultra could see the most drastic changes in the series.
Rumors and leaks suggest that Samsung will drop the S22 Ultra’s base RAM from 12 GB on the Galaxy S21 Ultra to 8 GB. RAM will be 12 GB instead of 16 GB. Rumor has it, however, that the phone will launch at the same price as its predecessor.
One reason Samsung might choose to go this route may be because it’s still dealing with the impact of a global chip shortage that’s affecting the availability of many of its best Android phones. That may have played into Samsung’s specification decision, said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for global device trackers at IDC.
But he added that for the average consumer, the replacement cycle for phones tends to be more than three years, “so actually those who bought the S22 Ultra were upgrading from phones from the S9 or S10 era, when 6GB of RAM was still common. .”
If the S22 boots with less RAM, it won’t be a deal breaker
He added that for most average consumers, RAM as a spec is “far less important than other features like cameras, processors, screens and battery life.”
“Assuming the S22 Ultra starts with less RAM than the S21 Ultra, it will not [Samsung’s] sales,” he said.
Mishaal Rahman, Esper’s senior technical editor and former editor-in-chief of XDA Developers, agrees, adding that if the S22 Ultra has less RAM than its predecessor, it’s not a “deal-breaker.”
But when it comes to this, he noted that consumers willing to spend more than $1,200 on one of Samsung’s high-end flagship devices “will only expect the best.”
He noted that while it may be premature for the company’s next-generation LPDDR5X modules to be included in the S22 series, he expects the series to feature Samsung’s slower LPDDR5 modules.
“This means, assuming the rumors are true, the base model S22 Ultra is a direct downgrade compared to the base model S21 Ultra in terms of RAM capacity,” he said.
Do we really need more memory or is less memory ok?
Rahman explained that for most phones, there should be at least 6GB of RAM, and anything beyond that will provide only marginal benefits.
“The last time I used an Android phone with 4GB RAM, I had a painful experience trying to replicate my workflow on a phone with 12Gb RAM. Apps were often unloaded from memory after putting them in the background. This It’s especially noticeable when playing music in the background, opening multiple Chrome tabs, or opening the camera app to take a photo,” he said.
Rahman explained that the amount of available physical memory, or RAM, has a big impact on performance, adding that the more memory is available, the more processes can run in the background.
But he added that most regular users rarely notice the difference.
“RAM capacity is not a number that most consumers care about, nor is it a specification that will appear in most marketing materials for the S22 series. However, Samsung will undoubtedly target as many different audiences as possible, and mobile gamers are more likely to focus on the device. of RAM. For these consumers, Samsung may choose to market its higher RAM [stock keeping units] And its ‘RAM Plus’ feature, which reserves space on the device’s internal flash memory to provide additional swap space,” – Mishaal Rahman, Esper senior technical editor
According to Neil Shah, research vice president at Counterpoint Research, the users who really care about more RAM are “power users” who want to invest in and get the latest and greatest memory. He added that they understand that 4K video recording and the image size of the 108MP camera require a higher RAM+ROM configuration. “
But perhaps, with a high-end phone with less memory, Samsung is catering to “low-power users who don’t care about memory specs but only look at the latest high-end devices from a design and brand aesthetics point of view.”
“We’ll have to see if that happens, and if it’s a specific market or a specific group of people, what is Samsung’s interpretation of the 8GB+128GB entry-level version,” he said.
While 8GB may be sufficient for most use-case scenarios, Anshel Sag, senior analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, believes that “12GB should be the norm for flagship devices, and 8GB should be the bet.”
“I think if the S22 Ultra has less RAM than the S21 Ultra, it doesn’t necessarily look high-end without some additional features,” he said.
Will consumers care that the S22 Ultra may have less RAM?
Rahman reiterated that for most regular users, less RAM won’t affect them.
“Apple, for example, never advertises the RAM capacity of its iPhones. When targeting these consumers, Samsung doesn’t need to advertise the RAM capacity of its phones because that’s not a number that those consumers care about,” he said.
Android Central recently ran a poll asking readers if they were concerned that Samsung might lower RAM.
Of the more than 1,100 votes cast, 54% said they want Samsung to keep the same RAM configuration as last year or increase it. Of the total votes, 36% said the rumored 8GB of base RAM is fine, but Samsung should offset the downgrade by lowering the cost of the phone or at least adding more storage.
Only 8% said they were fine with the rumored base RAM.
Given the compromises Samsung has made with recent flagships, one reader Steelatx wasn’t too happy:
“I didn’t get the s21 because the screen resolution was downgraded, there was no SD card, the memory was reduced, and the mobile payment changed. It seems that this iteration of the S22 (base) will be about the same or more compromises.
But, I started thinking, what if Android 12 was a better, more efficient, better memory management OS? Could this be a reason to cut RAM? Because the OS no longer occupies it? The law of diminishing returns, right? If 8 shows are the best, why do we need 12 or 16? All we will face is cost increases. I desperately need a new phone, my s20s battery is dead and not quite sure what to think. I need a small phone, even the s20 is too big :(.”
Perhaps for users like Steelatx, the rumored smaller size of the regular S22 might be more appealing than opting for a model with more RAM.
The 8GB Ultra model could also convince buyers with other priorities, including possible S Pen support, long battery life and the promise of a high-quality camera.
Does it make more sense to have more storage if there is less RAM?
For many users, storage is more important than RAM, Ubrani said, “Over time, storage tends to become more important, as many phones no longer offer expandable storage, leaving users with volatile storage over the life of the phone. Storage space is limited.”
He added that it may be worthwhile for Samsung to explore focusing on larger storage options to ease long-standing concerns that users have encountered.
Sag is not too convinced by this argument, adding that RAM is a commodity with a fairly stable price structure for manufacturers, especially for a manufacturer like Samsung, which makes its own RAM and can press Costs to use its own RAM.
“Given that Samsung is one of the world’s leading RAM producers, it would be disappointing that Samsung won’t offer more RAM. It’s a differentiator, and dropping that seems like a mistake,” he said.
Again, Rahman agrees. He noted that beyond a certain RAM threshold, adding RAM doesn’t yield much benefit, and for storage, consumers need more over time.
“A few years ago, 64GB of storage was enough, but today it’s too low. Having enough RAM and storage is necessary for a good user experience, but you can’t make up for it by adding more capacity. Another, Because they are used for very different purposes,” he said.
Leave a Reply