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Poll: Do you use the virtual/extended RAM feature on your phone?

Everyone from Samsung to OPPO offers this feature, but do you actually use it?
By

Published onApril 13, 2022

vivo X60 Pro Plus extended RAM 1
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

Many brands today offer a so-called extended RAM feature, using part of your phone’s storage as virtual memory. The feature is known as extended RAM, RAM Plus, memory extension, or RAM Boost, depending on the manufacturer.

Is this something you actually use though? That’s the topic of today’s featured poll, so choose your desired answer below and leaving a comment if you’d like to elaborate.

Do you use virtual/extended RAM on your phone?

15012 votes

The virtual or extended RAM feature seems handy on paper if your phone doesn’t have much physical RAM to begin with. This way, you should theoretically be able to enjoy better multitasking performance than only using the physical RAM. And there’s no shortage of manufacturers supporting the feature, with Samsung, Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO, OnePlus, and Motorola being some of the most prominent brands offering an extended RAM mode.

Explained: Everything you need to know about virtual memory and Android

It’s worth noting, however, that physical RAM is much faster than storage in the first place. You’ll see way bigger performance gains by getting a device with more RAM as opposed to using plenty of storage for virtual/extended RAM. Additionally, modern Android phones use virtual memory by default anyway, with today’s extended RAM modes essentially giving users more control over the usage.

You can let us know whether you use the extended RAM mode on your phone via the poll above.

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