OnePlus is plotting some fairly impressive hardware for its next smartphone, according to new reports.
The latest rumour about the mysterious OnePlus 3T – a spin-off phone mooted heavily in recent weeks – is that it will feature a whopping 8GB of RAM. By contrast, the OnePlus 3 debuted with a lesser 6GB of RAM, though that’s still sizeable by industry standards.
The news comes courtesy of Android Guys and The Verge, both of which have published reports suggesting this could be the case. Of course, we can’t verify the information contained in those reports, so take any such leaks with due caution.
The real question that comes out of this is whether or not a smartphone needs 8GB of RAM. Most flagship handsets tend to feature 4GB or less, but OnePlus busted the status quo earlier this year with the launch of the OnePlus 3.
Memory is where the programs that you’re actively using live on your phone. So if you’re on Facebook, all the Facebook-y goodness you’re browsing will be loaded into the RAM for quick access. Generally, the more RAM you have means the better your phone will be at multi-tasking, although that’s an oversimplification. Really, it just means your phone can have more stuff open and operating at any given time.
It’s fair to say you don’t really need 8GB of RAM right now, because it’s tough to stretch a smartphone to such extremes, even for power users. But as apps grow heavier and more demanding, it’s clear that 8GB will one day be a standard for RAM in smartphones. As such, it’s arguably future-proofing, which is no bad thing considering some users may be holding on to their handsets for many, many years.
