It's been a few years since UFS 3.0 was introduced, and Samsung is now getting ready to jump to the next UFS 4.0 storage standard. The company announced today that its first UFS 4.0 mobile storage modules are scheduled to enter mass production this month, right on time for the release of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4.
Samsung initially announced the UFS 4.0 storage standard in May. Fast forward to the present day, and the company confirmed that it is now preparing to mass-produce UFS 4.0 storage chips and will fire up the conveyor belts before the end of the month. Samsung's production capacity was not revealed, nor were any of its potential clients for UFS 4.0.
Enabling future Galaxy flagships and demanding (VR and AR) apps
UFS 4.0 storage promises double the bandwidth of UFS 3.1 modules and nearly a 50% boost in energy efficiency. This will become the new standard for demanding apps and mobile games that require large amounts of data processing for high-resolution sceneries.
Although Samsung hasn't confirmed which smartphones will be the first to use UFS 4.0 storage, the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 are two of the main contenders. Otherwise, the Galaxy S23 series will most likely adopt UFS 4.0 early next year.
Aside from smartphone storage, Samsung also confirmed that UFS 4.0 will also (later) be used in VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) devices. Samsung has stopped manufacturing VR headsets of its own but has remained a component supplier for other VR brands, including Sony. The latter is developing the PlayStation VR2 headset using OLED panels from Samsung Display.
Back to the mobile market, the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 4 could get a 1TB variant, according to our sources. The device should also be offered with 256GB and 512GB of built-in memory, although only time will tell if it's all based on UFS 4.0. Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 at Unpacked on August 10 and release the devices a couple of weeks later. The Galaxy S23 lineup should get announced in Q1 2023.
