Continuing to lead the way forward for UFS technology, KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced sampling of the industry's first Universal Flash Storage (UFS)3 embedded flash memory devices supporting MIPI M-PHY v5.04. The new lineup utilizes the company's BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory and is available in three capacities: 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB. The new devices deliver high speed read and write performance and are targeted to a variety of mobile applications, including leading-edge smartphones.

The new KIOXIA devices are next-generation UFS (MIPI M-PHY 5.0), which has a theoretical interface speed of up to 23.2 Gbps per lane (x2 lanes = 46.4 Gpbs) in HS-GEAR mode. Sequential read and write performance of the 256 GB device is improved by approximately 90 percent and 70 percent, respectively, over previous generation devices. Also, random read and write performance of the 256 GB device is improved by approximately 35 percent and 60 percent, respectively, over previous generation devices. This next generation of UFS provides significant increases in performance, enabling next-generation smartphones and other products to enhance their capabilities and end user experiences in the 5G era and beyond."We are pleased to announce another first in UFS memory," noted Scott Beekman, vice president, Memory Business Unit, for KIOXIA America, Inc. "This next generation of UFS provides significant increases in performance, enabling next generation smartphones and other products to enhance their capabilities and end user experiences. Moving forward, we will continue to drive these advances, maintaining our UFS memory leadership role."

Sample shipments of the 256 GB device will start from February 25, with the rest of the line-up to gradually follow beginning in August. Specifications of the samples may differ from commercial products.