Samsung Has Made A Breakthrough With RAM Which Will Help Your Next Smartphone Be Even Slimmer

Samsung has now started production of what it calls the most advanced RAM modules ever. The Korean company is making 16GB LPDDR5 RAM chips using the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology. This makes it the first memory module to be mass produced using this technology. Incidentally, 16GB is also the highest capacity in RAM availability for smartphones, at this time. This EUV technology uses lasers and light-sensitive chemicals to etch silicon and the memory will be built using Samsung’s third generation 10nm-class process. The company believes this will allow smartphones to offer better 5G and AI experiences in the coming years.

The new 16GB LPDDR5 RAM made using EUV is rated at 6,400 megabits per second (Mb/s) speeds, or 6.4Gbps bandwidth, which means it is about 16 percent faster than the present 12GB LPDDR5 (5,500Mb/s) modules that are used in most of the flagship phones that we use today. Samsung says that as a 6GB package, the LPDDR5 RAM can transfer about 10 of 5GB-sized Full HD movies, which total up to around 51.2GB of data in size, in one second. This uses Samsung’s 10nm-class (1z) process, which also makes it 30 percent thinner than its predecessor RAM modules. This should not only allow the next line of flagship smartphones to be thinner but will also be very relevant for different form factors such as foldable phones.

“The 1z-based 16GB LPDDR5 elevates the industry to a new threshold, overcoming a major developmental hurdle in DRAM scaling at advanced nodes,” says Jung-bae Lee, executive vice president of DRAM Product & Technology at Samsung Electronics.

The smaller footprint is achieved by the fact that this 16GB LPDDR5 RAM uses 8 chips instead of the 12 chips required by the preceding standard to have achieved the same 16GB capacity. Samsung is now delivering these new 16GB LPDDR5 RAM chips to phone makers, and we would perhaps see these as part of the next line-up of flagship phones. Which could theoretically mean early next year when the next line of Android flagship phones start rolling out. Samsung also sees this memory chip being used for more powerful in-car infotainment systems.