Apps running on your phone are loaded into working memory. The storage space is significantly slower, but despite this, manufacturers use it as virtual working memory. In computers it might be a good idea, but in phones it's almost just bad. Although the amount of working memory in phones has increased rapidly in recent years, mobile operating systems are created to be able to run with a limited amount of working memory. They do this by effectively limiting background processes and putting apps that are not active to sleep. You can notice this by an app you haven't used for a while taking a little longer to start. It might not be ready so you can pick up where you left off, but you have to start over from the beginning.
In expensive mobile phones today we can find upwards of 16 GB of working memory and that is exactly what, for example, Oneplus Open has. According to the manufacturer, it gives the opportunity to keep 40 apps active at the same time. This is probably significantly more than you as a user can keep track of. On the other hand, in phones with more frugal specifications, including cheaper phones from Oneplus or Motorola to name a few, Ram Boost is used. It sounds better than it is, because here slower storage memory is used as an extension of the real RAM. This means you get less available storage and the phone becomes slow. Because storage memory is significantly slower than actual working memory.
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The reason storage memory is bad and slow when used as virtual working memory is because it's simply not made for it. The storage memory is created for long-term storage and is not made to be constantly read from write to, read from write to. Although flash memory like this one has no moving parts like a hard drive, it is not insensitive to the test of time and wears out sooner or later. If it is used as virtual working memory, there is a risk that it will run faster than otherwise.
Apps running on your phone are loaded into working memory. The storage space is significantly slower, but despite this, manufacturers use it as virtual working memory. In computers it might be a good idea, but in phones it's almost just bad. Although the amount of working memory in phones has increased rapidly in recent years, mobile operating systems are created to be able to run with a limited amount of working memory. They do this by effectively limiting background processes and putting apps that are not active to sleep. You can notice this by an app you haven't used for a while taking a little longer to start. It might not be ready so you can pick up where you left off, but you have to start over from the beginning.
In expensive mobile phones today we can find upwards of 16 GB of working memory and that is exactly what, for example, Oneplus Open has. According to the manufacturer, it gives the opportunity to keep 40 apps active at the same time. This is probably significantly more than you as a user can keep track of. On the other hand, in phones with more frugal specifications, including cheaper phones from Oneplus or Motorola to name a few, Ram Boost is used. It sounds better than it is, because here slower storage memory is used as an extension of the real RAM. This causes you to have less available storage and the phone becomes slow. Because storage memory is significantly slower than actual working memory.
The reason storage memory is bad and slow when used as virtual working memory is because it's simply not made for it. The storage memory is created for long-term storage and is not made to be constantly read from write to, read from write to. Although flash memory like this one has no moving parts like a hard drive, it is not insensitive to the test of time and wears out sooner or later. If it is used as virtual working memory, there is a risk that it will run faster than otherwise.
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The problem has been brought to the fore by the fact that Android 15, when it arrives soon, is said to get a feature to show the health of your phone's storage. After all, most of the components in a phone are not consumables. It is probably more common that you accidentally break the screen of the phone than that one of the components has become too worn out, but of course there can be exceptions. The most obvious is the battery, because it ages with every charge cycle it goes through. It also takes more of a beating from lying fully charged. According to unconfirmed information, both battery health and storage health are to be made clear in Android 15. Then manufacturers get another incentive to stop using the dishonest RAM Boost.