from the big-things-coming-in-small-packages dept.
Samsung has announced that it is producing 64-layer 512 GB embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) NAND chips for smartphones and other mobile devices. The chips boast 860 MB/s sequential read and 255 MB/s sequential write speeds, and 42k/40k random read/write IOPS.
Toshiba has announced its own 64-layer UFS chips ranging from 32 GB to 256 GB.
Previously: Samsung 256 GB UFS 2.0 Phone Storage is Faster than some SATA SSDs
Samsung to Offer New Type of Flash Memory Card
Related Stories
Samsung has announced a 256 GB memory part based on the UFS 2.0 mobile standard, and it can reach faster sequential read speeds than commonplace SATA 3.0 (600 MB/s) SSDs:
Samsung announced the industry's first 256GB embedded memory based on the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 standard, which is meant to replace the eMMC standard. Samsung says that its new UFS 2.0 drive is faster even than some SATA-based SSDs for PCs.
[...] The new embedded storage module is based on Samsung's own V-NAND technology and comes with a "specially-designed high-performance controller." The latest UFS 2.0 memory supports up to 45,000 and 40,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) for random reading and writing, respectively. That is twice as fast as the previous UFS generation that supported 19,000 and 14,000 IOPS for random read and write workloads.
Samsung's 256GB module achieves up to 850MB/s sequential read speed, which is twice as fast as many SATA SSDs. It also supports up to 256MB/s sequential write speed, which Samsung says is three times faster than what high-performance microSD cards can currently achieve.
[...] The new storage chip should be available in products by the end of the year.
UFS 2.0 parts could potentially reach even higher speeds:
While the new NAND definitely is part of the speed improvement, it couldn't have been achieved without an increase of the interface bandwidth. The new memory today is the first announced UFS 2.0 solution based on a 2-lane interface. The UFS 2.0 standard defines a lane running at up to HS Gear 3 at up to 600MB/s, so doubling up of the lanes gives a theoretical maximum of 1.2GB/s. It'll definitely be interesting to see what devices adopt this storage solution in the near future.
[Note: A comment on the AnandTech story claims "That's not true.Hynix announced half a year ago a HS G3x2 lane solution. And Toshiba must have announced their first one maybe a year before that." -Ed.]
Gizmag reports that Samsung is expected to be the first company to offer for sale a new type of memory card, Universal Flash Storage. The new cards, which follow a JEDEC standard, have the same size and shape as microSD cards but are electrically incompatible with them.
Samsung claims a "sequential read speed of 530 megabytes per second (MB/s)" and, for the 256 GB card (the largest capacity), a "170 MB/s sequential write speed" and "35,000 random IOPS." Gizmag likened the speeds to those obtainable with SSDs. Cards with capacities as small as 32 GB will be offered.
Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass producing the industry's first one-terabyte (TB) embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) 2.1, for use in next-generation mobile applications. Just four years after introducing the first UFS solution, the 128-gigabyte (GB) eUFS, Samsung has passed the much-anticipated terabyte threshold in smartphone storage. Smartphone enthusiasts will soon be able to enjoy storage capacity comparable to a premium notebook PC, without having to pair their phones with additional memory cards.
[...] Within the same package size (11.5mm x 13.0mm), the 1TB eUFS solution doubles the capacity of the previous 512GB version by combining 16 stacked layers of Samsung's most advanced 512-gigabit (Gb) V-NAND flash memory and a newly developed proprietary controller.
It has been speculated that the 1 TB chips are destined for the Samsung Galaxy S10.
The UFS package is smaller than a microSD card (which is 15.0mm × 11.0mm × 1.0mm), so 1 TB microSD cards could be produced soon. The current record is 512 GB.
Previously: Samsung 256 GB UFS 2.0 Phone Storage is Faster than some SATA SSDs
Samsung to Offer New Type of Flash Memory Card
Samsung Announces 512 GB NAND Chips for Smartphones
(Score: 1, Troll) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday December 06 2017, @02:22PM (7 children)
I just paid $300 extra to get 256 GB of flash for my iPhone.
That's about half of what I need to hold my music collection. I expect I'll have to buy an iPhone 13 someday.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 06 2017, @02:25PM (2 children)
Look at the high roller!
I should start cyberbegging so I can buy a Raspberry Pi Zero.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by inertnet on Wednesday December 06 2017, @03:15PM (1 child)
I've got the cheapest strategy:
1: A new technological achievement is announced
2: Wait a while until the item becomes available
3: Wait some more until it's affordable
4: GOTO 1
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 06 2017, @03:22PM
I'm holding out for a $300 laptop with 6-12 CPU cores and hardware decoding support for AV1 [wikipedia.org].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by ledow on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:03PM (3 children)
For that price you could have bought a couple of 256Gb (or maybe one 512Gb if you could find it a tiny bit cheaper) micro-SD cards and stuck them in any normal old phone.
But, hey, if you'd rather be constrained to a new device every time you fill up the storage, feel free.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:33PM (2 children)
I have been typecast as an apple coder
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Wednesday December 06 2017, @07:31PM (1 child)
You've also handed a huge pile of cash to a company that is training people to rent devices rather than own them.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday December 07 2017, @01:18AM
... and support the company that claims not to be evil?
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by donkeyhotay on Wednesday December 06 2017, @03:15PM (5 children)
Samsung just announced better magic crystals for smartphones and other mobile devices.
Toshiba has announced their own, similar, magic crystals.
Samsung and Toshiba are both now hoping that you will run out and buy new google-boxes with their new magic crystals, even though your current magic crystals work just fine.
These new magic crystals will contribute to the advancement of civilization by making it possible for you to put more animated cat's ears on countless selfies.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 06 2017, @03:23PM (1 child)
Correction: These new magic crystals will contribute to the advancement of civilization by making it possible for you to store countless selfies with animated cat's ears added.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @07:09PM
Gentlemen, gentlemen, we can now add more cat's ears to more selfies! There are enough to go around.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Wednesday December 06 2017, @04:46PM
Oh, don't worry. Your* non-replaceable battery will ever weaken as it reaches towards its max number of charge cycles, and your* non-replaceable flash memory will begin dropping data as it reaches towards its maximum number of write cycles, and the increasingly bloated and ever-higher-level abstracted (and ever-less-functional, and ever-poorer user-interface-laden) apps you* buy will eat both of those resources ever faster as the resources themselves shrink day by day...
...and you* will want those new magic crystals, or you* won't be able to post your latest angst-fest on fleecebook and twaddle.
New magic crystals for everyone!* Yay!
* Not necessarily you you, but the generic "you" that makes up the vast majority of the marketplace.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday December 06 2017, @05:24PM (1 child)
> These new magic crystals will contribute to the advancement of civilization by paying for geeks' salaries so they can tinker around with useful stuff in their spare time
I'm -unusually- grasping for a sliver lining in an ocean of cynicism.
(Score: 2) by donkeyhotay on Wednesday December 06 2017, @07:32PM
I concede that's a fair point :-)