Samsung introduces fast UFS memory cards with a capacity of up to 256GB

Samsung has announced the first UFS memory cards. The small cards with capacities from 32GB to 256GB offer read and write speeds of up to 530MB/s and 170MB/s. It is still waiting for devices that support the new memory type.

The sequential speeds at which the UFS memory cards can read and write data are a lot higher than what is possible with micro-SD cards, which currently go up to 95MB/s at the capacity of 256GB. In addition, the performance for random reads and writes is much better. Samsung promises up to 40,000 iops in reading and 35,000 iops in writing.

The speeds of the announced cards are slightly lower than the 256GB ufs 2.0 memory chips that Samsung announced at the beginning of this year. UFS memory is used in high-end smartphones, including the Galaxy S6 and S7, OnePlus 3, HTC 10 and LG G5.

Although the UFS memory cards look like micro SD cards, the new memory type has a slightly different shape and uses different pins. The ufs cards are designed according to the UFS Card Extension Standard, which was established in March by standards organization Jedec.

Presumably, future smartphones will have a slot for UFS cards, so that it will be possible to expand the storage space with memory that is almost as fast as the internal storage memory. Other devices such as drones and cameras will also appear with support for UFS cards. However, concrete information is not yet known.

Samsung has announced ufs cards of 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. When the fast memory will be on the market and at what prices is not yet known. Also, the exact specifications per memory card are not yet available. Presumably, the highest speeds apply to the card with the largest capacity.