Are RAM and storage physically located on smartphone's SoC or not?

Question

I started to learn about Android-based devices' hardware and already have learned about SoC, which includes CPU, GPU, connectivity modules, etc in one chip. I have found an example of SoC structure (Snapdragon 600):



Snapdragon 600 SoC



Some sources say that SoC also includes RAM and storage, while others say that RAM and storage are placed on other chips which are separately soldered to the motherboard.



Which answer is correct? I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, I'm a newbie. Also, maybe you have some helpful articles to read. Thank you!


— Yamashiro Rion | Sources

Answer

Both answers are correct.



A SoC can contain RAM and flash but it does not have to. What variant is used is chosen by it's manufacturer and therefore every device type can have a different SoC and motherboard layout. And as there are dozens of manufacturers and hundred of different Android devices sold you will find any combination of on SoC with or without integrated RAM and flash.



If you are interested in a specific device check the device tear down section from iFixit for example. They usually mark the different chips on the motherboard so that you can identify which chips are separate chips (e.g. flash memory and/or RAM).



Some times even devices that share the same name like Samsung Galaxy S10 contain different SoC and motherboards. In this case the devices for the markets USA, Canada, China and Japan have contain a Qualcomm Snapdragon instead of a Samsung Exynos SoC.


— Robert | Sources

Q & A

Moving applications from the Internal Storage to my SD Card
Android phone display stuck and restart not working
What happens if I disable Google app?
How to login to Pokemon Go with different Gmail account than in Oreo phone?
ping fails, but ping -I eth5 works in Android shell
Huawei P20 Pro charging in USB host mode
adobe acrobat pdf reader now wants unnecessary permissions: workarounds? alternatives?
File transfer works only with specified suffixes
Can 5GHz wi-fi be disabled in Nougat?
Unable to copy files from one /data/data/ directory to another (Root)
how to block an OS app popup?
Run an android Virtual Machine on an android phone
Why do Docs, Sheets and Slides keep recreating their data?
Improve load time/animation on lock screen (Samsung S7, Android Oreo)
Add swap support to Android
Why some of the android apps doesn't work on Wifi
Lost Phone - Enable Secure Erase
how to exit developer mode on android 4.0 ice cream sandwich
How to fix the problem of offline packages not downloading in Google Translate?
Does Xposed Framework require to be buillt specifically for the device or just the Android version?

Topics

2D Engines   3D Engines   9-Patch   Action Bars   Activities   ADB   Advertisements   Analytics   Animations   ANR   AOP   API   APK   APT   Architecture   Audio   Autocomplete   Background Processing   Backward Compatibility   Badges   Bar Codes   Benchmarking   Bitmaps   Bluetooth   Blur Effects   Bread Crumbs   BRMS   Browser Extensions   Build Systems   Bundles   Buttons   Caching   Camera   Canvas   Cards   Carousels   Changelog   Checkboxes   Cloud Storages   Color Analysis   Color Pickers   Colors   Comet/Push   Compass Sensors   Conferences   Content Providers   Continuous Integration   Crash Reports   Credit Cards   Credits   CSV   Curl/Flip   Data Binding   Data Generators   Data Structures   Database   Database Browsers   Date &   Debugging   Decompilers   Deep Links   Dependency Injections   Design   Design Patterns   Dex   Dialogs   Distributed Computing   Distribution Platforms   Download Managers   Drawables   Emoji   Emulators   EPUB   Equalizers &   Event Buses   Exception Handling   Face Recognition   Feedback &   File System   File/Directory   Fingerprint   Floating Action   Fonts   Forms   Fragments   FRP   FSM   Functional Programming   Gamepads   Games   Geocaching   Gestures   GIF   Glow Pad   Gradle Plugins   Graphics   Grid Views   Highlighting   HTML   HTTP Mocking   Icons   IDE   IDE Plugins   Image Croppers   Image Loaders   Image Pickers   Image Processing   Image Views   Instrumentation   Intents   Job Schedulers   JSON   Keyboard   Kotlin   Layouts   Library Demos   List View   List Views   Localization   Location   Lock Patterns   Logcat   Logging   Mails   Maps   Markdown   Mathematics   Maven Plugins   MBaaS   Media   Menus   Messaging   MIME   Mobile Web   Native Image   Navigation   NDK   Networking   NFC   NoSQL   Number Pickers   OAuth   Object Mocking   OCR Engines   OpenGL   ORM   Other Pickers   Parallax List   Parcelables   Particle Systems   Password Inputs   PDF   Permissions   Physics Engines   Platforms   Plugin Frameworks   Preferences   Progress Indicators   ProGuard   Properties   Protocol Buffer   Pull To   Purchases   Push/Pull   QR Codes   Quick Return   Radio Buttons   Range Bars   Ratings   Recycler Views   Resources   REST   Ripple Effects   RSS   Screenshots   Scripting   Scroll Views   SDK   Search Inputs   Security   Sensors   Services   Showcase Views   Signatures   Sliding Panels   Snackbars   SOAP   Social Networks   Spannable   Spinners   Splash Screens   SSH   Static Analysis   Status Bars   Styling   SVG   System   Tags   Task Managers   TDD &   Template Engines   Testing   Testing Tools   Text Formatting   Text Views   Text Watchers   Text-to   Toasts   Toolkits For   Tools   Tooltips   Trainings   TV   Twitter   Updaters   USB   User Stories   Utils   Validation   Video   View Adapters   View Pagers   Views   Watch Face   Wearable Data   Wearables   Weather   Web Tools   Web Views   WebRTC   WebSockets   Wheel Widgets   Wi-Fi   Widgets   Windows   Wizards   XML   XMPP   YAML   ZIP Codes