Samsung Electronics has begun mass producing the first 512-gigabyte (GB) eUFS (embedded Universal Flash Storage) 3.1 for use in flagship smartphones.

Delivering three times the write speed of the previous 512GB eUFS 3.0 mobile memory, Samsung’s new eUFS 3.1 breaks the 1GB/s performance threshold in smartphone storage.

At a sequential write speed of over 1,200MB/s, Samsung 512GB eUFS 3.1 boasts more than twice the speed of a SATA-based PC (540MB/s) and over ten times the speed of a UHS-I microSD card (90MB/s). This means you could enjoy the speed of an ultra-slim notebook when storing massive files like 8K videos or several hundred large-size photos in your smartphone, without any buffering. Phones with the new eUFS 3.1 will only take about 1.5 minutes to move 100GB of data whereas UFS 3.0-based phones require more than four minutes.

In terms of random performance, the 512GB eUFS 3.1 processes up to 60 percent faster than the widely used UFS 3.0 version, offering 100,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) for reads and 70,000 IOPS for writes.

Along with the 512GB option, Samsung will also have 256GB and 128GB capacities available for flagship smartphones that will be launched later this year.

Samsung began volume production of fifth-generation V-NAND at its new Xi’an, China, line (X2) this month to fully accommodate storage demand throughout the flagship and high-end smartphone market. The company soon plans to shift V-NAND volume production at its Pyeongtaek line (P1) in Korea from fifth-generation to sixth-generation V-NAND.