Historically, Android has been “built and optimized to run with a 4 KB page size.”

In most CPUs, dedicated hardware called memory management units (MMUs) translate addresses from what a program is using to a physical location in memory. This translation is done on a page-size basis. Every time a program needs more memory, the operating system needs to get involved and fill out a “page table” entry, assigning that piece of memory to a process. When the page size is 4 times larger, there is 4 times less bookkeeping. So, the system can spend more time making sure your videos look great, games play well, and applications run smoothly, and less time filling out low-level operating system paperwork.

As device OEMs add more RAM “to optimize performance,” they will adopt these larger page sizes. Android 15 added system support — by refactoring the OS to be page-size agnostic — for this “increased page size, ensuring your app can run on these evolving devices and benefit from the associated performance gains.” This is supported and available to test on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 series. This results in performance improvements like:

• Faster app launches: See improvements ranging from 3% to 30% for various apps.

• Improved battery usage: Experience an average gain of 4.5%.

• Quicker camera starts: Launch the camera 4.5% to 6.6% faster.

• Speedier system boot-ups: Boot Android devices approximately 8% faster.