UFS 3.0 spec promises faster performance and lower power consumption

Universal Flash Storage (UFS), the storage specification employed in smartphones, tablets, Chromebooks and more, is about to get even better. The JEDEC Solid State Technology Association has released the specification for UFS 3.0 (via AnandTech), delivering several key upgrades upon the UFS 2.1 spec delivered in 2016.

What’s so special about 3.0? Firstly, it will double the bandwidth from the previous version allowing for two lanes at 11.6 Gbps transfer speeds for peak speeds of up to 23.2 Gbps. Further, it adds a 2.5V VCC power supply mode enabling lower power consumption for the latest NAND technologies (while UFS 2.1 works at between 2.7V and 3.6V).

What this means for smartphone owners is that devices with storage that meets the new spec should perform faster and use less power than those using UFS 2.1 (or something prior). When we’ll start seeing these devices arrive, however, we don’t know: many of 2018 SoC’s are already in development, so we could be waiting a while.