Samsung is mass producing a universal flash storage (UFS) 2.0 chip that can provide 256 GB worth of internal storage for future high-end smartphones, setting a new precedent in the mobile memory game.
According to the smartphone maker, the UFS 2.0 memory can read and write about two times faster than a SATA-based SSD found in desktop computers. That's because it takes advantage of a two-lane system to transfer files, clocking in at a jaw-dropping speed of up to 850 MB a second. As for sequential writing speed, it can go up to 260 MB per second. That's nearly three times faster than what top-of-the-line external microSD cards can offer.
More to the point, the chip is capable of handling up to 45,000 and 40,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) for reading and writing respectively. To get a better idea of how efficient those figures are, the IOPS of the previous-generation UFS measures at 19,000 and 14,000.
To boil things down, what all this means is that devices fitted with the chip can perform seamlessly even under heavy load and multitasking.
"We are determined to push the competitive edge in premium storage line-ups – OEM NVMe SSDs, external SSDs and UFS – by moving aggressively to enhance performance and capacity in all three markets," Joo Sun Choi, executive VP of Memory Sales and Marketing at Samsung, says.
Storage has been quite an issue in the smartphone market, and this is a viable solution to that problem. In other words, it's just what the people need to accommodate the ever-increasing apps, games and media files.
One interesting tidbit to take away from this announcement is Samsung's comments about the microSD card, referring to it as a slower technology and a larger chip compared to the UFS memory. This is a bit of a long shot, but that could indicate how the company intends to take the expandable memory option out of the picture again.
Moving forward, it would be interesting to see a Galaxy S7 variant sporting this 256 GB UFS 2.0 memory chip. If that doesn't work out, then the soonest possible device to have it under the hood could be the upcoming Note 6.
