That our smartphone runs smoothly is not just a matter of the SoC, despite the fact that it is essential in data processing. Despite everything, there is another key part that many of us forget: the memories and the UFS.
Many times you will have read that of the UFS when we talk about a phone. Normally, we complain if the terminal has a UFS 2.0 or 2.1 because the phone suffers. On the other hand, when we see a 3.1, the smile comes from ear to ear. Let’s explain why.
While you have a perfect article explaining it right here, the summary is that UFS stands for Universal Flash Storage, or universal flash storage. Its objective is to offer ultra-fast reading speeds in mobile phones and digital cameras mainly.
That is to say, it is the equivalent of SSD disks that deal with the storage memory of computers, but in a smaller size for all those devices that need speed and energy efficiency in a small space. Well, today we are facing UFS 4.0.
The JEDEC Solid State Technology Associationworld leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, today announced the release of JESD220F: Universal Flash Storage 4.0.
Developed for mobile applications and computing systems that require high performance with low power consumption, UFS 4.0 introduces significant improvements in bandwidth and data protection over the previous version of the standard.
UFS 4.0 takes advantage of the M-PHY version 5.0 specification and the UniPro version 2.0 specification to double the bandwidth of the UFS interface and allow up to 4.2 GB/s for read and write traffic.
Also, UFS 4.0 offers several enhancements designed to increase overall device capacity, power efficiency, and ease of integration with the new technologies that are to come:
- Uses a more efficient VCC=2.5 V compared to 3.3 V supported in the previous version of the standard
- Improved system latencies by allowing high-speed link startupdata transfer out of order.
- Facilitates system integration introducing enhanced device error history with configurable timestamps.
- Retains compatibility with UFS 3.1 and 3.0 to allow mixed system applications
Samsung announces its UFS 4.0 memories: twice the speed of the current standard
“UFS 4.0 standard will be a game changer for NAND flash storage in smartphones“said Raj Talluri, senior vice president at Micron. “Delivers blazing-fast read and write speeds that significantly reduce app and game load times, as well as increased power efficiency“
This new standard is expected to arrive by the end of the year or the beginning of the next in the most powerful phones on the market. Who will be the first to offer UFS 4.0?
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism