You already know that your phone’s CPU, GPU, and RAM affect its performance. But what about the storage?
Does your phone’s storage affect its performance?
Here’s Whether Phone Storage Affects Performance
A phone’s storage can affect its performance. Once the storage becomes full, the phone will slow down due to the lack of free space for OS caching. Different storage types like eMMC, UFS, and NVMe can also affect performance. Installing apps on microSD cards can also slow down a phone.
Will Your Phone Slow Down When The Storage Is Full?
Your phone will slow down when its internal storage becomes full.
Mobile OSs use phone storage to save temporary data, and it becomes harder for the OS to find free space when the storage gets full.
When the OS struggles to find free space, everything on your phone will slow down, including your games and apps.
Are Phones With Higher Internal Storage Faster?
The internal storage size doesn’t directly affect your phone’s performance.
When two phones have the same storage types (e.g., eMMC, UFS, or NVMe) and both have sufficient free storage, their storage sizes don’t matter much for performance.
However, a lack of free storage can slow down your phone, so go for large enough internal storage to avoid such slowdowns.
Does The Storage Type Of A Phone Affect Its Performance?
Phones use different storage types, including eMMC, UFS, and NVMe.
Budget and mid-range Android phones use eMMC storage, which is the slowest, while flagship Androids come with UFS storage, which is significantly faster than eMMC.
iPhones use NVMe storage, which provides faster random read/write speeds than UFS storage, and this is one of the reasons why iPhones feel smoother than most Android phones.
Phones with fast storage types feel snappy; OS and apps don’t have to wait for slow file operations, and indexing/scanning operations also run faster.
Faster storage types can also prevent your phone from freezing randomly.
Can A Memory Card Affect Your Phone’s Performance?
If you install apps on a microSD card, your phone’s OS has to access the microSD frequently. Memory cards are slower than internal storage, so apps on the microSD card will perform poorly than the apps on internal storage. On the other hand, the performance will never suffer much if you only use the memory card for storing media files like photos, music, and videos.
Too many small files in a memory card can slow down your phone. Your phone’s OS and media gallery apps might scan the memory card for indexing, and if the file count is very high, this will take time, and your phone will perform poorly during the scanning.
This is why you should always use a fast microSD card for the best performance; microSD cards come with different speed classes, and modern smartphones support Class 10 UHS 3 speeds.
Poor-quality microSD cards suffer from various issues. Some can’t offer the advertised read/write speeds, while others have storage faults, which can freeze your phone randomly. Therefore, always go for a reputed memory card brand with good customer reviews.
Memory cards can free up your phone’s internal storage; you can store your media files on a microSD card and install apps on the internal storage to speed up your phone.
Does Memory Card Size Matter For Performance?
The memory card size doesn’t directly affect your phone’s performance.
However, a large microSD card with lots of tiny files can slow down your phone when the OS and apps perform scanning and indexing operations.
Can Memory Card Type Affect The Performance?
MicroSD cards are available in various speed categories. For the best performance, you should get the fastest memory card compatible with your phone.
MicroSD cards are backward compatible, so if your phone doesn’t support the fastest speeds, the card will work at the maximum speed supported by the phone.
The most common SD speed categories for mobile phones are Class 10, UHS-1 Class 1, and UHS-1 Class 3.
Does Storage Matter For A Gaming Phone?
Storage doesn’t directly affect your phone’s gaming performance, but fast storage can load your games quickly.
Games also take up lots of space in your phone’s internal storage, so get enough internal storage in your next gaming phone.
Conclusion
Phones with fast internal storage types feel smooth and snappy; UFS and NVMe storage types are significantly speedier than eMMC storage.
The lack of free storage can slow down your phone, so get a phone with sufficient internal storage.
You can store your media files on a microSD card, and go for a fast card from a reputed brand for the best performance.
