Samsung announces UFS 4.0 storage with faster data transfer speeds, may be used in Galaxy S23

With UFS 4.0, Samsung is taking a leap forward in the device storage industry, claiming that the technology can support up to 23.2Gbps per lane — which is twice what UFS 3.1 offers.

Samsung has announced what will potentially make your next smartphone faster. The South Korean company has introduced the UFS 4.0 storage, which is a significant upgrade over UFS 3.0 or UFS 3.1. The new storage technology uses Samsung’s Gen 7 V-NAND memory and a proprietary controller with sequential read speeds up to 4,200MBps and sequential write speeds of up to 2,800MBps. This technology will make your smartphone work faster because the data you save on it or transfer to it will go at higher speeds.

UFS is short for Universal Flash Storage, a storage solution that goes into nearly every device today, such as your phone, tablet, laptop, digital camera, headset, and a lot more. The current technology for UFS is UFS 3.1, which you will find on flagship phones because, right now, it offers the fastest data transfer speeds on electronic devices.

With UFS 4.0, Samsung is taking a leap forward in the device storage industry, claiming that the technology can support up to 23.2Gbps per lane — which is twice what UFS 3.1 offers. Samsung said this high bandwidth “is perfect for 5G smartphones requiring high amounts of data processing” and future automotive applications, and augmented and virtual reality technologies will also benefit from it. In simpler words, 5G phones require faster-than-ever data transfer rates to work properly and UFS 4.0, Samsung claims, is designed to meet that demand.

Not only higher speeds, but UFS 4.0 is also claimed to offer better power efficiency. Per Samsung, UFS 4.0 will deliver a sequential read speed of 6.0MBps per milliampere. That means the phone using UFS 4.0 will consume less energy transferring data. For instance, when you record a 4K video on your phone and save it, your phone starts storing the data on the preferred memory. It uses power to transfer that data, so logically, a heavier file will use up more power. UFS 4.0 aims to minimise power consumption without hampering speed.

Samsung said the UFS 4.0 storage will be available for up to 1TB, which is the maximum storage you will currently find on select premium phones. Samsung’s own Galaxy S22 phones come with up to 1TB storage but they use the UFS 3.1 storage technology.

Samsung said it expects the mass production of UFS 4.0 storage solutions to begin sometime in the third quarter of this year, which means the next Galaxy flagship phone will likely feature it. That would be the Samsung Galaxy S23 in all likelihood, but Samsung does not want to keep the technology for itself. Samsung is one of the suppliers of phone storage solutions to many smartphone manufacturers. This means other brands are very likely to use UFS 4.0 on their next premium phones — possibly later this year or early next year.