Share

Samsung Unveils World’s First UFS Memory Cards

Samsung’s UFS cards are based on the SCSI transfer architecture, making the storage capable of accepting multiple commands with command queuing and thereby improving the efficiency significantly.

Advertisement

When it comes to writing, the new 256GB UFS card processes 35,000 random IOPS, which is 350 times higher than the 100 IOPs of a typical microSD card, and attains a 170MB/s sequential write speed, nearly doubling the top-end microSD card speed.

Samsung has unveiled the first UFS (Universal Flash Storage) memory cards this week, the evolution of microSD.

Apparently, Samsung has other ideas with respect to its microSD card business. In fact, these new cards are just as fast as SSD drives.

Despite being the same size as regular MicroSD cards, UFS offers reads speeds five times as quick and write speeds almost twice as fast. This means you can download a 5GB file from the UFS card in around 10 seconds, compared to UHS-1 microSD cards where it would take around 50 seconds. Samsung did not announce actual release dates or pricing details for the UFS 2.0 memory cards either, but it did reveal performance details. As of earlier this month, Samsung also completed the Universal Flash Storage Association (UFSA)’s certification program that evaluates electrical and functional specifications for compatibility of a UFS card, resulting in Samsung’s new UFS card products were approved as UFSA-certified UFS cards with the right to use the official UFS logo for the first time in the industry.

The write speed of these cards are also much faster, obviously.

Samsung specified in the post that these new UFS cards will be used in DSLRs, VR Cameras, 360 cameras, Drones, and other high-end photography devices.

Advertisement

“The new UFS cards are not compatible with the current microSD card socket”. What about smartphones? Well, no need to worry, you will be able to use the card. But that came embedded in the devices, which makes the new cards the first to feature the technology in a swappable form. Fortunately, Samsung recently confirmed that it’s working on a socket design that supports both UFS and microSD is possible. But Samsung stepped up its game and killed the microSD card completely.

Samsung UFS: Industry-first memory card for better multimedia experience