If you are one out of the many asking if storage can affect phone speed, the answer is no.Â
However, this does not mean that storage is the only reason for your phone’s slow performance. The phone has more than just storage. It has a processor and RAM.
If all of these components work properly, your phone will stay in optimum condition.
As you use them, they start wearing out, and after a year or so, you’ll see your phone slower than before. You can factory reset the device to check if it is because of storage.
Does Storage Affect Phone Speed?
Your phone needs some memory to store cache files so it can open apps and games instantly. Have you ever wondered why a game takes a lot of time to run for the first time?
If you open it again, it quickly takes you to the menu; it happens because the cache files are stored in your device, and your phone takes data from the cache to open stuff quickly.
The instruction will run smoothly if your phone has enough storage to store the cache files. The slow performance you see on a device is because you are getting used to it.
It is similar to getting a high refresh rate screen, it looks smooth at the start, but as your eyes get used to it, everything is normal again. You’ll feel the difference if you use a lower refresh rate screen.
The same happens with the phone; if you think your phone is getting slower, use a low-end device, and you’ll get the idea. So, a quick answer is no; storage won’t affect the phone as long as you have enough to store the cache files.
There are other reasons why your phone may be slow, such as when your storage device wears off. If you copy and delete excessive data or keep flashing multiple firmware on your device, it happens.
Another thing is the spam and virus inside your phone. Since these viruses mess with every file you open, they gradually decrease the performance of your device.
Will Phone Storage Affect Performance?
Phone storage won’t affect a phone’s performance, but what you store in that phone will. To avoid this, don’t download unnecessary stuff from the internet; make sure to remove the files you don’t use anymore.
Don’t install apps that have too many ads. Each ad forces you to download something. If you try to fill up your phone’s storage, your phone’s performance will be affected.
Your storage will alter the phone’s performance if your device has a better read and write speed. Same as an SSD works much faster than an HDD, but both are used for storage purposes.
Most phones come with UFS 3.0 storage, the fastest available market. A 128GB of UFS 3.0 or above storage device has rare chances of slowing down because you filled it up with data.
The newer phones also use multiple partitions for cache, so if you have the latest flagship device, it won’t slow down even if you fill it up.
Does More Storage Make Your Phone Faster?
With more storage, you’ll get more storage capacity. It won’t make your phone faster, but having the best hardware and software will make your phone faster.
A flagship device is better despite having the others. The company puts its best hardware and software in the flagship device to perform better.
More storage won’t make your phone faster, but you can install more games and save more files.
You don’t have to use a memory card to increase your phone storage since memory cards are slow and can leave a significant impact on the phone’s performance.
Why Do Phones Get Slower Over Time?
Like all other things, the hardware also has a lifetime; if you excessively use your device, it will quickly live up most of its life.
Once your hardware starts getting older, your phone will perform much slower than before. Moreover, each time you grab a phone to play games, it will lose half of its life by the end of the first year.
A company wants you to upgrade, but some newly released updates can slow down phones. This happened before with Apple and will probably do it again. You can revert to an old firmware version if you believe an update has slowed your phone.
Another thing is to check the battery. Modern batteries are made to keep the battery timing at optimum.
As they get old, their capacity gets lower, and instead of providing power for performance, they start saving the battery so your device can survive the day.
Also, a device’s RAM plays a significant role since everything goes through RAM before reaching the storage or the processor. If you flash lots of custom ROMs on your device, it can impact the efficiency of RAM.
Custom ROMs are made to break the limits OEM puts on your device, forcing your device to work fast. While these ROMs don’t affect storage and processor, they certainly affect RAM.
How to Make Your Phone Fast?
If the problem is related to the software, you can quickly resolve it, but you might need to pay some money if it’s the hardware. Create a backup of your data and factory reset the device; that does the job in most cases.
If that didn’t work, download an old firmware and flash it. Remove all unused apps and restrict background activity to lower the burden on your device. Use some third-party apps to remove the bloatware on your device.
Most phones are slow because of the stock apps that come pre-installed. They keep running in the background for no reason, thus making your device slow.
A custom ROM can give you the freedom from stock apps, but opt for a firmware that doesn’t overclock your device’s hardware. A pure Android ROM will do the job pretty well since it won’t have other apps except for Google Apps.
If the problem is with the hardware, visit a repair center and tell them to check your battery first. Sometimes changing a battery is enough, but try replacing the RAM if the battery is fine.
If you like your device way too much, you can change its board and grab a fresh piece. However, you’ll need to copy all your data back to the device since a new board brings new storage capacity.
The final option is to change your device; you can upgrade or even downgrade. As long as you get a brand new device, it will perform well; try not to repeat the same mistakes you made on the previous device, and your new device will last for a long time without slowing down.
Conclusion
The answer to ‘does storage affect phone speed’ is yes and no. If your device has low storage capacity from the start, and you fill it, the cache files won’t store, and your device will take more time to open apps.
A low-end processor and RAM might not be able to handle such pressure and slows down as you fill storage.
The flagship phones are built differently and are not affected by the storage capacity. It’s just that you get used to using a phone, and it feels slow for you.