Kioxia announces UFS 5.0 embedded flash with 10.8 GB/s bandwidth, over 2× faster than UFS 4.0

Just a few months back, we reported that UFS 5.0 storage could be almost as fast as PCIe 5.0 SSDs, and there were also rumors about the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 might feature UFS 5.0 flash storage. However, those were mostly speculation. Now, Kioxia has surprisingly announced that it has started shipping evaluation samples of UFS 5.0 embedded flash memory in 512 GB and 1 TB capacities.

The new memory modules are currently being standardized by JEDEC, and the standout feature here is the High-Speed Gear 6 or HS-GEAR6 mode. It’s a neat new interface protocol that'll enable much higher data transfer speeds between the storage and the host processor.

Now, the older UFS 4.0 standard was well and good for running regular apps, scrolling, and all that background syncing. But with smartphone hardware getting more and more data-hungry, especially devices running top-tier on-device AI models like the iPhone 15, Google Pixel, or Samsung Galaxy S series, a better solution is needed to address this bandwidth crunch.

This is where the UFS 5.0 storage comes in; Kioxia has introduced a dual-lane MIPI M-PHY 6.0 setup that can dish out data signals of up to 46.6 Gbps per lane. That means with the support for two lanes, the flash memory's total effective read/write performance jumps to a solid 10.8 GB/s - talk about a massive speed boost.

The new protocol is designed to work alongside Kioxia’s in-house 8th-generation BiCS FLASH controller, giving some extra headroom when data is crunched. This could really help with running setups that just chew up bandwidth, including Jetson Thor and Jetson Orin-powered devices, which focus on local AI generation or on processing massive, high-resolution video files on the fly.

The UFS 5.0 memory package looks very tiny with its newly designed 7.5 x 13 mm footprint, but it’s got a new protocol setup to handle higher bandwidth requirements. This should give mobile gamers and creators enough room to push their complex AI processing directly on their phones.

Kioxia's 512GB UFS 5.0 evaluation samples began shipping on February 24, with 1TB versions scheduled to start from March onwards, though the company has not yet revealed the pricing for final consumer devices.

Kioxia notes that these samples are for "functional evaluation only" and that "specifications of the samples will differ from commercial products”.