Samsung unveils next-generation RAM for phones and the metaverse

A new generation of RAM technology designed specifically for mobile devices has been unveiled by Samsung. 

The company claims that this technology will be utilised in future smartphones but will also be used in servers, automobiles, and “the metaverse.” Even if Samsung’s new LPDDR5X RAM chips don’t enable humans enter “digital reality,” they should help devices operate faster and last longer. 

Even if you ignore terms like “metaverse,” “artificial intelligence,” and “5G,” Samsung’s next-generation RAM will have processing speeds that are 1.3 times quicker than the previous generation’s LPDDR5 and will be capable of larger densities (up to 64GB per chip), all while using 20% less power. 

These advances, Samsung claims, can be attributed to the company’s new 14nm manufacturing process. For all the snark about the metaverse, decreased power drain and greater performance could genuinely benefit AR and VR headsets with inbuilt processors or phones that are driving those gadgets.

According to Samsung, the 14nm process is a significant improvement over its previous generation RAM chips, which it branded as “10nm-class,” which meant that the process was between 10nm and 20nm.

In the meanwhile, AnandTech predicts that Samsung’s LPDDR5X RAM chips will start showing up in smartphones around 2023, although Samsung doesn’t mention when they’ll be available to manufacturers (including Samsung’s phone division).

Like regular-power DDR5, which is making its way into desktop PCs, there won’t be a huge generational leap between machines employing LPDDR5 and LPDDR5X memory.

Nevertheless, it is advancements like these that allow our gadgets to become better and better with each generation, and it is encouraging to see Samsung pushing one of the less fascinating parts of a phone’s performance forward — even if it is selling it on the basis of nebulous promises about the metaverse.