You may have noticed that iPhones tend to have less RAM than high-end Android phones. The latest iPhone 13 models have 4GB of RAM compared to some Android phones which have 8GB or even 12GB of RAM. You may wonder why iPhones have less RAM than Android phones. If you want to know why iPhones have less RAM than Android phones then you have to understand why Android requires more RAM in the first place.
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Why Do Android Phones Require more RAM?
Android phones require more RAM because the Android operating system is open-source, which means that different manufacturers can customize it to their liking. This leads to a fragmented ecosystem with less optimized software performance because each manufacturer may prioritize different aspects of device performance, resulting in a more resource-intensive system.
Another reason why Android devices require more RAM is the fact that Android apps run on the Java platform. The Java virtual machine translates the code at runtime to work on whatever system it’s on. However, this requires a process known as Garbage Collection (GC) to recycle memory released by closed apps.
The problem is that this process itself needs a sufficient amount of RAM. If there isn’t enough RAM available, the GC process slows down, which can lead to overall system slowdowns. Therefore, Android OEMs generally fit their devices with higher or extra amounts of RAM to ensure there’s sufficient memory for garbage collection. This is why you’ll often see an Android device with twice the amount of RAM as an iOS device.
Why Does iPhone Require Less Ram?
Because Apple has more control over the iOS ecosystem compared to Android. If you want to use iOS, then you can only use an iPhone, which is designed to work seamlessly with iOS. Similarly, if you want to create iOS apps, you have to use Apple’s tools and follow their guidelines. This level of control allows Apple to ensure that iOS performs optimally on their devices and provides a consistent user experience. Apple’s iOS is specifically designed for its own hardware and tested by the company.
Apple doesn’t have to create versatile system code for various hardware types like Android phones often require. Instead, developers can adapt the code to suit the specific hardware specifications of each product. In contrast, Android must support multiple processor types, making it more challenging to develop a one-size-fits-all operating system. To enhance RAM management in iPhones, Apple employs several techniques.
For instance, the system on an iPhone doesn’t terminate a task quickly, unlike Android smartphones where a task may be ended after a shorter interval by default. This practice can lead to system instability and increased RAM usage. If you reopen an app, the system may not be able to retrieve it from RAM, further exacerbating the problem.
Conclusion
Just because Android uses more RAM doesn’t mean they have worse performance. But we can say that the iPhone performs remarkably well despite having/using limited hardware resources.
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