Samsung Electronics today announced production of its high-performance micro Secure Digital (microSD) cards with advanced data transfer speeds. The new 20-nanometer-class (meaning the process technology node is somewhere between 20 and 29 nanometers) microSD cards have a class 10 speed rating suitable for seamless data storage and transmission of full HD video. In other words, Samsung says it is aiming the cards at 4G smartphone users.
The new 32GB microSD cards can write at 12MBps and read at 24MBps, which is more than double the maximum write speeds of a class 4 rated 32GB microSD card. The new 32GB memory card incorporates 32Gb 3-bit NAND flash memory chips and a proprietary 3-bit NAND controller to deliver the high performance.
Samsung introduced its 30nm class microSD cards in February 2010. The electronics giant claims the 20nm-class process technology raises the productivity of the chips by over 30 percent. The company is slating mass production of its 20nm-class 64Gb 3-bit NAND designed on advanced toggle NAND architecture for early next year.
"The industry demand for high-class-rated memory cards addresses the growing performance push for next generation mobile applications in more advanced smartphones including 4G models," Wanhoon Hong, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing at Samsung Electronics, said in a statement. "As the industry adopts microSD cards with a class 10 rating, the superior data transfer speeds are expected to improve the mobile user experience tremendously."
If I were planning to buy a microSD card soon, I would have a tough time choosing between this one, and the world's first 64GB microSD card from Kingmax. If I needed it for a camera (some use only microSD cards), I would choose Kingmax. If I were buying it for a phone, I don't think I would need 64GB of space, and would probably go with Samsung. Even I don't have a 4G smartphone, read and write speeds are important.
At the end of the day though, I just wish cards like these weren't required at all. Cameras and phones should just all come with 64GB of space built-in.