When you drop a serious wad of cash on a flagship, you don't expect it to perform like a phone from 2021. Yet that might be the reality for Galaxy S27 Ultra buyers, even as Samsung's next flagship threatens to soar well beyond the $1,300 mark.
No LPDDR6 and UFS 5.0
The Galaxy S27 Ultra will be stuck with old technologies. | Image by Lanzuk
RAM holds the operating system, active apps, and background tasks. The amount and type of RAM dictate how swiftly you can multitask.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra features LPDDR5X RAM, and the S27 Ultra was expected to jump to LPDDR6. It would have resulted in 45% better performance and 21% lower power consumption.
Meanwhile, flash storage controls how quickly the phone saves data and loads games. The Galaxy S26 Ultra comes with UFS 4.0, but UFS 5.0 has since been introduced.
According to South Korean leaker Lanzuk, both upgrades have been shelved.
Another memory crunch casualty
Due to the ongoing memory crisis, the new technologies have been reserved for special-edition phones produced in limited quantities. The Galaxy S27 Ultra is out of luck. Whether this also means the phone will have to settle for the non-Pro version of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 isn't clear.
How does this make you feel about the Galaxy S27 Ultra?
How much does it matter?
Hardly anyone with a brand-new flagship phone complains that it isn't fast enough.
While blistering performance is easy to take for granted on a brand new phone, the effects become apparent down the road. Missing out on LPDDR6 and UFS 5.0 might not hurt right away, but buyers will feel the pinch in a year or two as resource-heavy apps and updates are rolled out.
The AI problem
Samsung's UFS 5.0 solution promises industry-leading transfer speeds in a smaller footprint. Faster response times are crucial in heavy AI workloads. Similarly, LPDDR6 promises better reliability for AI apps.
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While AI isn't Samsung's entire brand identity like it is for Google, it's still a massive selling point. Without the components to keep up with the latest AI innovations, Samsung will be hard-pressed to market the Galaxy S27 Ultra as a true AI phone.
If you are wondering why new memory and storage standards matter:
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Anam Hamid is a computer scientist turned tech journalist who has a keen interest in the tech world, with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets. She has previously written for Android Headlines and has also been a ghostwriter for several tech and car publications. Anam is not a tech hoarder and believes in using her gadgets for as long as possible. She is concerned about smartphone addiction and its impact on future generations, but she also appreciates the convenience that phones have brought into our lives. Anam is excited about technological advancements like folding screens and under-display sensors, and she often wonders about the future of technology. She values the overall experience of a device more than its individual specs and admires companies that deliver durable, high-quality products. In her free time, Anam enjoys reading, scrolling through Reddit and Instagram, and occasionally refreshing her programming skills through tutorials.
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