Samsung 16GB LPDDR5 RAM Enters Mass Production To Prepare Phones For 5G

Smartphone makers are echoing the mobile industry's 5G battle cry but it takes more than just a 5G modem to truly experience the benefits of the new network technology. A phone needs a processor powerful enough to keep up with the flood of data and new experiences 5G enables. It also needs enough high-speed memory for apps and processes to move in. The latter is what Samsung is addressing with its new 16GB RAM package, the very same it used on its highest-end Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G.

We're slowly but surely approaching a point when mobile devices are approaching lower-end computers in terms of processing power. Previously, the remaining bottleneck has been RAM, especially when it comes to Samsung phones. With the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, however, the company did the unexpected and offered the highest capacity and fastest RAM package available in the smartphone market.

The 16GB LPDDR5 boasts of a data transfer rate of 5.5 MB/s, one of the perks of the newer LPDDR5 technology over the LPDDR4X that's still the most commonly used even in premium phones today. At the same time, it also promises 20% power efficiency in order not to drain batteries faster as well.

These capabilities aren't just for making regular smartphone use faster. It will also be needed for the new experiences that 5G will enable. Samsung specifically names mobile gaming, both streamed and locally installed, as a beneficiary of the high-speed memory package.

Samsung is naturally proud of its production capabilities that made this kind of mobile memory possible but it won't be keeping it for itself. Mass producing the 16GB LPDDR5 RAM package means that other manufacturers will also be able to offer that promise to their customers, though it remains to be seen who will be the first to jump on that offer.