Next-Gen Smartphones Get a Speed Boost: Kioxia UFS 4.0

Today, Kioxia announced the debut of its latest generation UFS 4.0 flash memory chips, offering new products in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacity specifications, designed for use in next-generation mobile applications, including high-end smartphones.

According to Kioxia’s official release, the new flash memory chips enhance the utilization of 5G networks, thereby accelerating download speeds and significantly reducing latency, which substantially improves the user experience. Additionally, the smaller packaging size helps conserve circuit board space, increasing its utilization and allowing for more flexible and relaxed circuit design.

The new flash memory chips utilize Kioxia’s BiCS Flash 3D memory and a proprietary controller, integrating MIPI M-PHY 5.0 and UniPro 2.0 standards. They support a theoretical interface speed of 23.2 Gbps per channel or 46.4 Gbps per device, and are backward compatible with UFS 3.1. Compared to the previous generation of UFS 4.0 products, the new chips have a 15% increase in sequential write speed, a 50% increase in random write speed, and a 30% increase in random read speed, while maintaining a sequential read speed of 4640MB/s. Moreover, the new products are encased in a JEDEC-standard 9mm×13mm package, which is 18% smaller than the previous generation’s 11mm x 13mm package, with a thickness of 0.8mm for the 256GB and 512GB flash memories, and 0.9mm for the 1TB model.

The UFS 4.0 standard, released at the end of 2022, is a high-performance interface standard developed for mobile devices requiring high performance and low power consumption. Compared to the previous generation, UFS 4.0 utilizes the M-PHY 5.0 specification and UniPro 2.0 specification to double the UFS interface bandwidth, supporting up to 4.2GB/s read and write throughput. Additionally, to meet the demands of more rigorous I/O modes, it introduces multiple queue definitions and permits advanced RMPB interfaces to increase bandwidth while securing data.

Kioxia also stated that the 256GB and 512GB capacity products will start shipping this month, while the 1TB products are scheduled for shipment after June, noting that sample specifications may differ from the final mass-produced version.