Samsung Galaxy Note 7 expected to come with hybrid UFS/microSD card slot
Last week, Samsung announced a new mobile storage format based on the UFS 1.0 standard. The company said that users should expect to see read and write speeds improving by at least 5x compared to microSD cards. This, combined with Samsung’s reputation as the world’s largest flash storage maker, means that many high-end mobile devices of the future are likely to adopt Samsung’s new removable storage format.
As is always the case when new technology formats and standards are introduced, the unveiling of the new UFS 1.0 memory cards has raised many questions regarding the future of microSD cards. Fortunately, Samsung recently confirmed that it’s working on a socket design that supports both UFS and microSD is possible.
In a statement to Droid-Life, Samsung notes:
“The new UFS cards are not compatible with the current microSD card socket. However, we have developed a socket design that can support both UFS cards and microSD cards. We are working with different partners in the industry on this integration for next-generation devices.”
Fortunately, this news has double implications. First, it means that we’ll get to use our existing microSD cards for the foreseeable future, although with significant performance limitations. Second, it means that the new UFS format is more likely to be adopted by multiple device makers, since they don’t have to give up on the traditional microSD card format if they offer support for the faster UFS format as well, which will probably help with adoption as well.
Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering at this point, UFS 1.0 cards will not be compatible with the microSD-only card readers of current-generation devices.
source: Droid-Life
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