Google plans to improve the performance of Android devices by providing them with support for 16 KB memory pages. This innovation is currently being actively tested.
Image source: android-developers.googleblog.com
«Most processors have a dedicated hardware unit called a memory management unit (MMU) that translates addresses from those used by the program to physical locations in memory. The conversion comes from the page size. Every time a program needs more memory, the operating system has to step in and make an entry in the “page table,” assigning that piece of memory to the process. That means the system can spend more time making videos look great, games running well, and apps running smoothly, and less time filling out low-level operating system documents,” Google explained.
Currently, Android is “built and optimized to run at 4KB page sizes.” Google estimates that moving to larger page sizes promises “an overall performance increase of 5-10%,” but overall memory consumption will increase by about 9%. In particular, when memory resources are limited, application launch times are reduced by an average of 3.16%, and in some cases by 30%; Energy consumption during startup when starting an application is reduced by an average of 4.56%; “hot” camera startup is accelerated by an average of 4.48%, “cold” – by 6.60%; System boot time is reduced by an average of 1.5% or 0.8 seconds, according to Google calculations.
With Android 15, the company rebuilt the OS “from the ground up to support multiple page sizes, making it page size insensitive.” Developers have to recompile applications to support 16KB page size devices, and now “the same application binary can run on devices with both 4KB and 16KB memory pages.” The rollout of the innovation may begin with Android 15 QPR1 Beta 1 on Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. The “Download with a page size of 16 KB” option available to developers will require unlocking the bootloader and wiping the device, so it will not be suitable for ordinary users. Google is currently working with “SoC and OEM partners to enable this option on new devices soon,” but for now the main working option is the x86_64 emulator.
For ordinary users, the company promised to roll out the innovation in the “near future,” although at the moment “there are no Android devices available or expected for the release of Android 15 that support a 16 KB page size.” It is assumed that in practice the transition will occur as the amount of RAM on end devices increases.