Mobile phones, the more memory they have, the better. Almost without us realizing it, new mobile phones have greatly increased their memory capacity, and more than half of those sold today have 256G of ROM memory or even more.
And both ROM memory and RAM memory are increasing, and this partly also happens because memories have dropped a lot in price, and as an example, you only have to look at the prices of USB storage devices.
Technological evolution is advancing by leaps and bounds, and has accustomed us to increasingly powerful and versatile devices, especially in the field of mobile telephony. Smartphones, today, have become extensions of ourselves, indispensable tools that we use to work, communicate, entertain ourselves and manage almost any aspect of our lives. And in this unstoppable race for innovation, memory plays a fundamental role
If we look back, we will nostalgically remember those first mobile phones with just a few kilobytes of memory, enough to store a handful of contacts and little else. Today, the reality is radically different: storage capacity has multiplied exponentially and memory has become a crucial factor when choosing a new device. We are no longer satisfied with less than 64 GB, and the trend indicates that we will soon see smartphones with 1 TB of internal storage as commonplace.
What is the reason for this growing demand for memory? The answer is simple: we do more and more things with our mobile phones and generate a greater volume of information. Applications are becoming heavier and more sophisticated, demanding more system resources. Photographs and videos, with the arrival of high-resolution cameras and 4K recordings, take up much more space than before. And the number of files we store on our devices, from work documents to our entire music library, continues to grow.
You can see below a data published by Counterpoint Research showing the evolution of mobile memories between 2023 and 2024. And more than half of them already have 256G or more.
ROM memory vs. RAM memory: two sides of the same coin
To understand the importance of memory in a smartphone, it is essential to differentiate between two types of memory: ROM and RAM. ROM (Read-Only Memory) is the internal memory of the device where the operating system, applications and all our files are stored. It is a read-only memory, which means that we cannot modify or delete it directly. The amount of ROM memory determines how many things we can store on our device.
On the other hand, RAM (Random Access Memory) is the volatile memory that the phone uses to run applications and processes in the background. That is, the larger the RAM, the greater the phone's ability to perform multiple tasks fluidly and without slowdowns.
The evolution of storage technologies, with the arrival of high-density NAND flash memories, has allowed the cost of memory production to be significantly reduced, which translates into more accessible prices for the end consumer. But on the other hand, the popularization of cloud services such as Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud, which allow us to store our files on external servers, has contributed to relieving pressure on the internal memory of our devices.
However, the demand for memory seems to have no limits. The arrival of technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, AI or the Internet of Things (IoT) will predictably skyrocket the amount of data we handle daily, making it essential to have mobile devices with an ever-increasing storage capacity.
In short, memory has become a key element in the value equation of a smartphone. It is no longer just about choosing a device with a good camera or a powerful processor, but also about making sure that it has enough memory to meet our present and future needs.
The era of almost unlimited memory still seems far away, but the technology industry is advancing by leaps and bounds and it would not be surprising if we soon see how the line that separates the possible from the impossible becomes increasingly blurred.
As always, time will tell.As always, time will tell.
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