For a long time, smartphones have had the virtual or extended RAM capability, which uses a portion of your storage space as virtual memory. OnePlus, Oppo, Samsung, Vivo, and Xiaomi are among the more well-known manufacturers that offer this capability. Virtual RAM has been around for a while on desktops, but it is now finally available on mobile phones, notably Android smartphones. Extended RAM for mobile, also known as expandable RAM, is a technology that allows a terminal, in this case, a mobile phone, to set aside a portion of its internal storage for use as additional RAM. People who are here to know about the Android Extended or Virtual Ram also read Top 2 Best App Killer for Android: for RAM and Battery Life.

What is Virtual RAM?

Virtual RAM isn’t a brand-new concept. It’s a feature we’ve had for quite some time. However, this is a relatively new concept in terms of smartphones. If you’re a techie, you’ve probably heard about SWAP and Virtual Memory, which enables extended RAM in desktops and laptops temporarily. In smartphones, more RAM works in a similar way. To grasp the concept of virtual RAM, we must first comprehend what RAM is. RAM is a form of volatile memory on your smartphone that is faster than any other type of storage. When you open an app on your phone, it is referred to as a process, and these processes (which can include numerous apps) are stored in the physical RAM in the background. RAM allows you to load apps faster and with less lag. In a similar vein, the Virtual RAM makes use of the phone’s internal storage as a makeshift RAM, which is commonly referred to as Virtual RAM. Virtual RAM is a function that allows you to use a piece of your phone’s internal storage as additional RAM, essentially increasing the overall amount of RAM on your phone. As the name implies, this is a “virtual” RAM, meaning the amount of additional RAM isn’t physically present on your smartphone. For example, if a phone has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and the RAM is increased by 5GB, the phone will now have 11GB of RAM and about 123 GB of internal storage.

What is Android virtual or extended RAM in smartphones?

This causes the phone to use internal memory or to build a RAM partition in the storage. This means that a portion of your smartphone’s storage can be designated as RAM, allowing for improved memory management and multitasking. Some Vivo phones, notably the company’s flagship X60 series, have lately used this technology. Vivo’s OriginOS, dubbed “Memory Fusion,” splits 3GB of internal storage from the RAM, increasing the phone’s RAM from 8GB to 11GB. Nubia has a feature dubbed “RAM Boost” that allows the phone’s 12GB RAM to be used as 18GB.

How Does Android Virtual or Extended RAM Work?

For those familiar with Linux, this feature is rather popular, and it was really acquired from the PC world and used on cellphones. While we used to need root access to expand and gain additional Virtual RAM a few years ago, it’s now much easier to do so with simply a toggle. The amount of RAM that can be increased varies by device, but we’ve seen 1GB to 7GB of extra RAM so far. When you turn on the virtual memory option on your smartphone, the phone allocates the amount of memory you’ve set as virtual, but you’ll have to restart the phone to allow the space in the internal storage. For example, the Realme Narzo 30 5G’s 6GB setup supports a 5GB expansion, bringing the total to 11GB. Let’s take a look at how this feature works in practice. First and first, if you increase RAM, you will not witness an increase in the amount of RAM used by the system because the storage will be allocated to Virtual RAM and your actual RAM will remain the same. Only when the physical RAM becomes insufficient to manage the processes will the Virtual RAM be used. More programs can stay in the background for long periods of time when using the virtual memory feature, especially the lighter apps, allowing heavy apps and games to stay in the memory as well. It’s also worth noting that using Virtual RAM will not improve gaming performance. People with similar interests also read,

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SmartPhones With Android Virtual or Extended RAM Feature

1. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G

2. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G

3. Samsung Galaxy S21+

4. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra

5. Samsung Galaxy A22

6. Redmi Note 10 Pro

Why is Android Virtual or Extended RAM Coming to Smartphones Only Now?

As previously stated, this technology isn’t brand new; we’ve seen it before on PCs and devices with root access. It’s an old technology, and users now want more RAM on their smartphones since they run heavy programs and play games on them. 4GB was acceptable a few years ago, but programs have grown much larger and resource-intensive since then. Because adding more RAM via hardware is complicated and costly, marketers can use Virtual RAM to provide greater memory to users without incurring additional fees. This, like 5G on smartphones, would assist the device to be future-proofed. With memory-hungry apps like Chrome and games like Genshin Impact and BGMI, every byte of RAM would be appreciated. It would also help with 4K video recording and augmented reality apps, both of which are projected to become ubiquitous in the coming years. This is more akin to giving thought to whatever potential users might do in the coming years.

Advantages of Android Virtual or Extended RAM

Extended RAM or Virtual RAM is a software feature rather than a hardware component, you can get more performance out of them without paying for extra physical RAM.

A phone with 6GB+2GB RAM will not function as well as one with 8GB RAM, but it should be less expensive, assuming that other factors such as brand and other features remain constant.

Phones with the feature will manage RAM better than phones with the same amount of RAM but without the feature.

Disadvantages of Android Virtual or Extended RAM

Extended RAM or Virtual RAM is a software function that uses empty internal storage to temporarily replace RAM usage.

It will only work if you have enough internal storage space, to begin with. 

If your phone is nearing its maximum internal storage capacity, there is no extra space to allocate to additional RAM, and your phone will simply use the dedicated RAM it has.

Virtual or Extended RAM can be expanded Because it’s a software feature, you won’t be able to use it if you run a third-party custom ROM on your phone instead of the official firmware in the future. 

You’ll be stuck with the dedicated RAM again unless the custom ROM has a comparable implementation.

Closing Thoughts- Virtual or Extended RAM

We’ve seen virtual and Extended RAM in operation and are using it in our Linux and Windows systems, as I mentioned previously. In terms of smartphones, however, we have yet to completely experience virtual or extended RAM. Regardless, virtual or extended RAM in smartphones appears to be a useful feature, particularly for low- to mid-range devices. As we all know, the more RAM a device has, all other things being equal, the smoother your experience of using apps will be. So, I hope this article would be helpful for all you should know about android extended or virtual ram in 2022. If you want something interesting to discuss, tell us in the commend section!