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.
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Related announcement: MIPI Alliance Releases UniPro v3.0 and M-PHY v6.0, Accelerating JEDEC UFS Performance for Edge AI in Mobile, PC, and Automotive
https://www.mipi.org/press-releases/mipi-releases-unipro-v3-and-mphy-v6-accelerating-jedec-ufs-performance-for-edge-ai-in-mobile-pc-automotive
I’m curious(!!!) about which embedded products require such high speeds and are already on the market.
UFS 5.0 chips are made for smartphones, AI PCs, and automotive products.
Thanks for the reply. Its speed is faster than most NVMe drives, so future laptops might become more lightweight, I think.
There’s something called ‘race to idle’. If storage can be accessed really fast only short amounts of time are needed where these subsystems are active but otherwise sent to deep sleep which directly affects battery life.
It’s the first time I’ve heard of this concept, but I can understand it; shorter activity time means less power consumption. (right?)But it’s unclear if its power consumption will be just as exciting at higher speeds.
race-to-idle is generally for a whole device. For example think about your laptop. You’re downloading an update that prevents you from powering it off at an airport, and during this time you’re wasting battery to power: the CPU, the RAM, the radio, the display, the SSD. If your download speed is doubled, even if it triples the radio consumption, you can power it down twice as fast, so maybe you invest 5% more power and save 50%. It’s true for lots of devices that are on a critical path. It can be valid for the flash as well, for example when you want to suspend-to-disk. Being able to dump your 32GB memory in 3s instead of 15 on a slower SSD could save you some precious seconds of battery, especially if repeated.
Thanks a lot, you explained it really clearly.