It was rumored last year that the Galaxy S10 storage might adopt the faster UFS (Universal Flash Storage) 3.0 standard. It was announced earlier in the year and the Galaxy S10 was expected to be Samsung's first smartphone to ship with UFS 3.0.
That's not going to be the case, though. A teardown of the Galaxy S10 shows that it does not come with UFS 3.0. It sticks with UFS 2.1, the same standard Samsung has used on devices like the Galaxy Note 9.
Galaxy S10 storage doesn't use the faster UFS 3.0 standard
The UFS 3.0 standard offers double the bandwidth compared to UFS 2.1. It has a data rate of 11.6Gbps per lane for a maximum peak data transfer rate of 23.2Gbps with two lanes. The new 2.5V power supply mode also makes it more power efficient as it reduces consumption. What this means in simple words is that storage solutions based on this standard will be faster while needing less power.
Samsung confirmed at Qualcomm’s 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong last October that UFS 3.0 storage will ship in products in the first half of 2019. The company didn't mention the Galaxy S10 by name. It was assumed that the company was referring to its upcoming flagship smartphone.
It wasn't, actually. TechInsights' teardown confirms that neither the Galaxy S10 nor the Galaxy S10+ features the UFS 3.0 storage. The teardown found the same Samsung KLUDG4U1EA-B0C1 128GB UFS 2.1 flash memory that has previously been seen on the Galaxy Note 9 and other smartphones. It goes without saying that it's out of the question for the Galaxy S10e to have UFS 3.0 storage.
The first Samsung smartphone with UFS 3.0 storage will actually be the Galaxy Fold. The company mentions UFS 3.0 storage in the official specs table for its foldable smartphone. Samsung will release the Galaxy Fold next month with prices starting at $1,980. It will be made available in select markets and the retail experience will be carefully controlled as well.
