The Samsung Galaxy S23’s surprise killer feature might be revealed

Barring a major departure from its traditional product launch strategy, Samsung is expected to unveil a new flagship smartphone in early-2023, with the presumptively named Galaxy S23 already generating its fair share of early leaks and rumours.

One thing that can’t quite be considered a rumour but could still prove to be a killer feature for the Galaxy S23 is Samsung’s just announced new flash storage , UFS 4.0solution, which offers double the performance of its current UFS 3.1 one that features on devices like the Galaxy S22 Ultra and Galaxy S22 Plus.

Samsung’s UFS 4.0 chip is based on its 7th-gen V-NAND technology, which it says will allow the new Universal Flash Storage (UFS) product to achieve speeds of up to 23.2Gbps per lane. It will measure 11mm x 13mm x 1mm and will come in several capacities up to 1TB.

In more common (but still technical) terms, that means it should be capable of delivering sequential read speeds of up to 4,200MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 2,800MB/s. Really, it’s the promise that it’s twice as nippy as the current Samsung Semiconductor UFS 3.1 offering that is exciting, because the South Korean firm’s chipmaking arm supplies under-the-hood hardware to a host of big name phone manufacturers, including Apple when it comes to storage.

Does that mean UFS 4.0 might make its way to the upcoming iPhone 14? That seems unlikely. While Samsung says that it’s again “collaborating with smartphone and consumer device manufacturers globally” to deploy UFS 4.0, it won’t begin manufacturing UFS 4.0 chips until Q3 2022, which is the likely window for the next iPhone to launch.

Instead, that production timeframe works almost perfectly for UFS 4.0 to debut with the Galaxy S23 in Q1 2023 (according to reports), with Samsung adding that the hugely expanded bandwidth of the new solution will make it ideal for 5G devices, as well as deployments in connected cars and AR/VR products.

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James Laird Contributing Editor

About

James has been covering gadgets and other cool tech stuff for more than 10 years, most recently as the Sports and TV Streaming Editor at TechRadar. Before that, he was News and Features Editor at Trusted Reviews, where he developed a love of big phones and even bigger headlines. In his spare time, he can usually be found behaving badly on a golf course or watching the New England Patriots.