Google Cracks Down on Memory-Hungry Android Apps Amid Global Shortage

The mobile industry is facing a significant memory crunch due to rising RAM costs. Google has announced that from February 2027, Android apps will be subject to new memory limits, and those that exceed these limits will face penalties.

An app can use no more than 2.25GB in the foreground on a phone with 8GB of RAM, and 1.5GB for user-perceived services and 1.5GB in the background. Devices with more than 16GB are mostly exempt, but apps that exceed these limits will be slowed down or terminated.

The shortage of RAM is largely due to the AI data centre boom, which has led to a surge in memory costs. This has resulted in phone makers fitting less RAM into their devices, and consumers already paying higher prices for smartphones.