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Samsung aims to up memory to 2GB for phones, tablets

Electronics giant announces that an advanced manufacturing process allows it to pack 20 percent thinner memory chips into a 2 gigabyte package.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
Samsung DRAM.
Samsung DRAM. Samsung

Ever felt like that game or tabbed-out browser on your phone or tablet could use more memory? Samsung says it has the answer.

The South Korean electronics giant announced today that it has begun making low-power double-data-rate 2 (LPDDR2) memory using 20 nanometer class technology.

Translation: Samsung's most advanced manufacturing process allows it to pack 20 percent thinner memory chips into a 2-gigabyte package.

And that means potentially more large-screen phones and tablets with 2GB of standard system memory instead of the 1GB limit that's prevalent today. And that, in turn, means more DRAM to power memory-hungry games and Web sites.

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"As large-screen tablets and smartphones equipped with quad-core CPUs lead rapid growth of the mobile market, there is greater demand for more energy-efficient and higher-capacity memory products that guarantee longer battery life, as well as faster processing speed," Samsung said in a statement.

When is this going to happen? Samsung will ramp up production In the second half of this year with the aim of making it a mainstream product.

The announcement comes a day after Samsung lost $10 billion in market value on the back of a report that Apple was placing large orders with rival memory chipmaker Elpida, which U.S.-based Micron Technology is trying to purchase.