You spend good cash on a telephone with 12GB of RAM, and inside every week, apps are reloading whenever you swap between them. The telephone will get heat and transitions stutter for no apparent cause. It would not really feel like a 12GB machine. The explanation has nothing to do with the processor or the {hardware}.
It is a single setting known as RAM Plus on Samsung, and Reminiscence Extension or RAM Growth on different Android telephones. The function is turned on by default, and on telephones with loads of RAM, it creates extra issues than it solves.
Storage pretending to be reminiscence
Digvijay Kumar / MakeUseOf
Two issues resolve whether or not your telephone feels quick or gradual: the processor and the RAM. RAM is the place your telephone retains the whole lot it is actively engaged on. Open apps and browser tabs sit in RAM as a result of it could actually feed information to the processor virtually immediately. When RAM fills up, Android has to make selections. It might shut older apps or reload one thing later. That reload is the pause when an app restarts as a substitute of constant from the place you left it.
Digital RAM is meant to assist with that. It borrows a bit of your telephone’s inner storage and lets the system use it as backup reminiscence. On my Galaxy S25 Extremely, the setting affords allocations from 2GB as much as 12GB of digital RAM on high of the 12GB of bodily RAM already contained in the telephone. Set it to the max, and the telephone experiences 24GB of complete reminiscence.
That quantity seems to be spectacular, however it hides the tradeoff.
Digital RAM isn’t the identical as bodily RAM. Your telephone’s inner storage could also be quick for saving apps, images, movies, and information, however it isn’t constructed for a similar type of on the spot entry as actual RAM. Even quick UFS storage is slower than LPDDR reminiscence, particularly for the fixed back-and-forth motion that energetic apps want.
So when RAM Plus shops app information in that slower area, bringing it again can take longer than pulling it from actual RAM. The telephone could technically maintain extra issues open, however that does not at all times imply these issues really feel quicker whenever you return to them.
On a funds Android telephone with 4GB or 6GB of RAM, digital RAM could be helpful. It offers the system further respiration room when reminiscence is tight, and that may cease apps from closing too aggressively. However on a telephone with 8GB, 12GB, or extra bodily RAM, the profit is far much less clear. You have already got sufficient actual reminiscence for regular multitasking, so a big digital RAM setting can develop into an answer to an issue your telephone does not likely have.
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Digvijay Kumar / MakeUseOfCredit: Digvijay Kumar / MakeUseOf
The issue with digital RAM isn’t that it at all times destroys efficiency. It’s extra refined than that. Your telephone should still really feel quick more often than not, however sure actions take longer to carry out.
With RAM Plus energetic, Android has a bigger reminiscence pool to handle, however a part of that pool is backed by slower storage. When app information will get pushed there, bringing it again takes longer than doing so in actual RAM. And at that time, the additional RAM appears extra of a compromise than an improve.
There may be additionally further motion occurring within the background. Digital RAM depends on inner storage, which suggests extra studying and writing in comparison with bodily RAM. That further storage exercise can add warmth and drain the battery throughout heavy multitasking. To keep up a sure temperature, the system could cut back its efficiency.
Inner storage has a finite lifespan, and digital reminiscence provides further learn and write cycles. It most likely will not matter to most individuals who change their telephones each two or three years. However in the event you maintain telephones longer, it’s one more reason to not use a big digital RAM setting until you really want it.
Kill the toggle, maintain the pace
Disable it and really feel the distinction
Disabling RAM Plus on Samsung is simple. Head to Settings -> System care -> Reminiscence -> RAM Plus. On different Android gadgets, search for Reminiscence Extension, RAM Growth, or RAM Enhance beneath your reminiscence or efficiency settings. Relying in your telephone and UI model, you may even see an Off choice or just a few measurement selections similar to 2GB, 4GB, 6GB, 8GB, or 12GB. In case your telephone helps you to flip RAM Plus off utterly, attempt that first. If it would not, select the bottom obtainable choice as a substitute. A restart is required for the change to take impact.
As soon as the telephone reboots, the whole reminiscence quantity in your settings drops. On my S25 Extremely, it went from 24GB again to the precise 12GB. That smaller quantity is the sincere one, and the telephone performs higher due to it.
Should you use a lower-end telephone with 4GB or 6GB of RAM, you might need to depart digital RAM on. These telephones can profit from the additional room, particularly in the event you maintain a number of apps open.
Preserve it off after updates
RAM Plus can flip itself again on after main software program updates. Samsung’s One UI updates have finished this earlier than, and different Android manufacturers behave the identical method. Test the setting after you replace your telephone’s software program to ensure it hasn’t re-enabled itself.
8.5/10
SoC
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Show
6.9-inch Dynamic Tremendous AMOLED 2X
RAM
12 or 16 GB
Storage
256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Extremely is not an enormous leap in specs in comparison with the earlier technology Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely, however it boasts enhancements in each facet. The most important differentiators are two options that may enchantment to energy customers and content material creators, known as Privateness Show and Horizontal Lock.
