While this is true for some models, the Android phones with copious RAM aren't the ones moving in volume.
In Q4 2023, the best-selling Android phone was the Galaxy A54, which starts at 4GB of RAM. The Galaxy S line, that starts with 8GB, isn't even in the top 10.
Sorry. I meant to put a 'some' Android models ( $150 priced models are going to have tough time maximizing RAM). But generally Android+JDK apps tend to have a higher memory footprint. There is more pressure on Android systems to add memory at all the price levels.
As for the A54 there are multiple models.
"...
| Internal | 128GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 6GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM |
..."
www.gsmarena.com
As 34 same thing.
"...
| Internal | 128GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 6GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM |
..."
www.gsmarena.com
That 'starts at' capacity is trying to hit an overall system price point at least as much as it is RAM availability. Most Android vendors don't get to put an "Apple Tax" (i.e., margin pump ) on their system prices.
And if go back on that page to some Q2 metrics the S2x systems tend to show up. By Q4 it fades because the 'refresh' is coming relatively soon. Everyone in the Android market doesn't release their top end smartphones in exactly the same month every year ( it ends to vary by vendor). It is Apple vs Android (in the aggregate) not Apple vs Samsung that is RAM consumption volume at the whole market level.
A contributing factor is Apple's static September launch times also. If next gen memory ships in 2H 202x then it won't make the cut. Doesn't matter how much the memory vendors can/cannot make. Apple needed to have the parts in April-May to start ramping to have phones done by July-Sept to build inventories to cover the initial demand bubble. No fab vendor "has to" roll out a generally usable technology solely to iPhone's technically arbitrary timeline. ( there is zero technological grounded basis there. It is mainly just the 'corne' that Apple has painted themselves into the corner on. ). Periodically Apple is just going to be out of phase with technology that doesn't move on exactly 12 month cycles.
LPDDR3 May 2012
en.wikipedia.org
LPDDR4 August 2014
LPDDR5 February 2019
etc.
Absolutely
no 12 month cycle there at all. The cycle for the A-series fab improvements is also on their own schedule not completely beholding to the iPhone inventory build cycle. Other competitors who are not slavishly hooked to September are going to have other options for launch dates.
At the iPhone's scale, doubling RAM capacity could have significant market implications.
Doubling if the is zero increase in memory die density yes. But if the memory die wafer density doubles then it is exactly the same number of dies needed. Apple doesn't have 'double' to do any kind of increase at the base level. ( the Pro and 'regular' iPhone are gapped by 2GB . )
If they just follow the tech it isn't a 'volume' problem. Apple pushes 'economies of scale' ( e.g., same component part into several products ) to push deeper discounts to claw out higher margins. It is to buy a larger
subset of what the memory vendors are selling to wrangle a better deal. Or to get some semi-custom package/compoent at the general market pricing (still wrangling a better deal).
Admittedly, this doesn't mean much for the Mac, but it holds a little bit of water for the phones.
There is a little water there. But it is also overblown as a misdirect from getting better deals so they can pass the money around inside of Apple.
