World's First '256GB UFS Card' Unveiled, 5 Times Faster than SD Card
Early creation of a premium card market for 3D VR, action cams, DSLRs, and drones

Samsung Electronics has unveiled the world's first ultra-high-speed '256GB UFS (Universal Flash Storage) card' that is more than five times faster than existing high-performance microSD cards.

The newly unveiled '256GB UFS card' achieves the highest capacity and highest speed among external memory cards, and has achieved a speed of 530MB/s (sequential read speed), which is the same as a 2.5-inch SSD.

The external UFS card can read Full HD video (5GB) in the 10-second range, which is more than 5 times faster than a conventional microSD card, and in particular, since it applies parallel processing technology identical to that of an SSD, users can experience up to 12 times performance improvement depending on the usage environment.

With a continuous write speed of 170MB/s, which is about twice as fast as existing micro SD cards, it is expected to greatly enhance user convenience for consumers by enabling much faster storage of ultra-high resolution (4K UHD) video for 3D VR, action cams, DSLR cameras, drones, etc.


In particular, when saving 24 consecutive photos (1,120MB, JPEG mode) on a DSLR camera, a Micro SD card takes 32 seconds (at the 35MB/s level), whereas a UFS card can save them in the 6-second range.all.

Random write/read speeds also achieve 35,000 IOPS, which is 350 times faster than entry-level microSD cards, and 40,000 IOPS, which is 20 times faster, allowing complex tasks such as searching for photo files and downloading videos to be handled quickly and freely in DSLR cameras just like in high-performance smartphones.

Following the world's first mass production of 128GB eUFS (embedded Universal Flash Storage) in January of last year and 256GB eUFS in February of this year, Samsung Electronics has also completed the development of external memory and has begun pioneering the ultra-high-speed external memory card market.

Providing the optimal solution for 4K UHD shooting with ultra-high speed and large capacity

Lee Jung-bae, Executive Vice President of the Product Planning Team at Samsung Electronics’ Memory Business Division, emphasized, "The 256GB UFS card will provide consumers with the best user experience through its largest capacity and fastest speeds," adding, "We will lead market growth by launching a lineup with even faster speeds in the future, thereby shifting the paradigm of the memory card market to a speed-centric model."

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics has contributed to the creation of the UFS market by leading the establishment of the external memory card standard 'UFS Card 1.0' in March of this year, following the establishment of the embedded memory standard 'UFS 2.0', which was approved as a JEDEC standard in September 2013.

Samsung Electronics completed the certification evaluation for interface and functional specifications at the UFSA this month, becoming the first in the industry to obtain external 'UFS card certification'.

Three in the futureSamsung Electronics plans to lead the growth of the premium memory card market by launching the industry's largest lineup in a timely manner, including the highest capacity 256GB UFS card, as well as 128GB, 64GB, and 32GB models.