Kioxia has announced that it has begun shipping evaluation samples of UFS 5.0 embedded flash memory available in capacities of 512 GB and 1 TB.
UFS 5.0 is a new standard for embedded flash storage currently being developed by JEDEC for next-generation mobile devices. The new standard utilizes MIPI M-PHY version 6.0 for the physical layer and UniPro version 3.0 for the protocol. The new High-Speed Gear 6 (HS-GEAR6) mode available in M-PHY version 6.0 can handle up to 46.6 Gbps per lane, meaning that with 2 lanes, it can achieve around 10.8 GB/s read/write performance, outperforming most NVMe SSDs, except for PCIe Gen5 SSDs.
As a reminder, the previous UFS 4.0 standard promised up to 4,200 MB/s, so the upcoming UFS 5.0 standard more than doubles the theoretical speed. [Update: note quite “upcoming”, since the UFS 5.0 standard was also published on February 26, 2026]
Besides the higher throughput, the new standard adds the following features, according to JEDEC:
- Integrated link equalization for more reliable signal integrity
- Distinct power supply rail to provide noise isolation between PHY and memory subsystems, for easier system integration
- Inline Hashing for greater security
Kioxia says the samples incorporate an in-house newly developed controller for UFS 5.0 and the company’s 8th-generation BiCS FLASH. The chip measures just 13 x 7.5mm. The company stresses that samples are intended for functional evaluation only, and the specifications of commercial products will/may differ.
It will take a while before hardware UFS 5.0 becomes available, especially since the standard does not appear to be finalized yet, and the samples are only available to companies developing compatible host systems. The 512 GB sample is available now, and shipment of 1TB samples is scheduled to start next month (March 2026).
Via press release.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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