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Samsung Begins Mass Producing 128GB eMMC Memory For Next-Gen Mobile Devices

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If you thought your media was getting a little crammed inside that 32GB of internal storage, from your current smartphone, it seems Samsung will soon have you covered. Announced at Samsung Mobile Solutions Forum 2012 was Samsung’s “industry first” 128GB eMMC Pro. The high-capacity eMMC has officially gone into mass production for next-generation mobile devices.

Besides plenty of elbow room for all the apps, games, and media you can throw at it, the eMMC Pro is manufactured using Samsung’s 20 nanometer technology and adheres to JEDEC eMMC v4.5 specifications. This means the NAND flash-based memory is capable of hitting speeds of up to read/write speeds of 140MB/s and 50MB/s which, rough translated, means it’s about 5 times faster than current class 10 microSD cards.

I’ve said it before, multi-core processors are all good and dandy, but show me an OS installed on some uber fast memory and I’ll show you a snappy mobile experience. I wouldn’t expect these to make it into next year’s Samsung Galaxy S4, but an Android fanboy can dream…

[SammyHub | DDaily (Korean)]

Chris Chavez
I've been obsessed with consumer technology for about as long as I can remember, be it video games, photography, or mobile devices. If you can plug it in, I have to own it. Preparing for the day when Android finally becomes self-aware and I get to welcome our new robot overlords.

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42 Comments

  1. It all sounds great, and the funniest thing is that a couple of years from now we’ll still all be complaining about how our phones don’t have enough storage

    1. I still remember how on earth I’d fill all my hard drive space back in 94 with windows 3.14. Computer still work for the curious, doesn’t run much besides Duke nukem 2.

      1. lol, back in 93, i had a 486 and couldnt even run doom 2 lol. My first real computer had 1.6 gig hd. When i got my pentium pro 200 in 96, it was game over lol

  2. why not the GS 4 if they are already in mass production? adding this and whatever else Sammy dreams up for the next galaxy may mean that apples next big innovation is to include a packet of kleenex with which their customers can wipe their tears

    1. Well, I should clarify, I don’t think we’ll see the 128GB capacity. Possibly the 32GB and 64GB versions that went into mass production in early August. http://phandroid.com/2012/08/02/samsung-begins-mass-producing-uber-fast-64gb-nand-flash-memory-for-smartphones-and-tablets/

      1. I think we will. I still remember using my G1 the first time that the word “Snapdragon” hit the radar. 1GHz was outlandish and quad-core’s in mobile phones seemed like a pipe dream. That was only a few years ago. Yeah 128GB might seem crazy now but so did a 13MP camera in a mobile. What I’m saying is, technology will make this happen and I wouldn’t be surprised if we started seeing stuff like this in a few years.

      2. IF SAMSUNG WANTS TO BUILD IT’S LEAD OVER APPLE AND iPHONE, THEY NEED TO USE THESE NEW 128GB MODULES ON THE GALAXY S4 AND PUSH THE 32GB/64GB TO THE MIDRANGE DEVICES THAT WILL ALSO CARRY THE OLDER DDR2 RAM AS AN UPGRADE! MEANWHILE THE GALAXY S4 SHOULD RUN THE NEW DDR3 MODULES THAT SAMMY IS ALSO MASS PRODUCING!!!!
        The Galaxy S4 will most likely be the most worked on and praised phone in recent Android history. The phone needs to appeal to everyone and needs to have a uniform design that will make it just as recognizeable as the Galaxy S3. The amount of new technology that Samsung is sitting on is increasing so they have an amazing chance to literally blow their customers away!
        I mean, what do we know about Samsung now??
        Ok we know they have these new ARM Cortex A15 based Exynos DUAL AND QUAD core processors that come with faster GPU’s, that are way faster than what we have now. (EVEN SNAPDRAGON S4 PRO W/ ADRENO 320)
        These are
        Exynos 5250: 32 nm, 2.0 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A15 CPU, ARM Mali-T604 GPU
        Exynos 5450: 32/28 nm, 2.0 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 CPU, ARM Mali-T658 GPU.
        For info on Dual
        http://androidandme.com/2012/03/news/a-closer-look-at-samsungs-killer-2-ghz-exynos-5250/
        For info on Quad
        http://androidandme.com/2012/02/news/samsung-demos-quad-core-exynos-processors-we-drool/
        We know they have new RAM and FLASH STORAGE right??
        http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/18/samsung-memory-storage/
        We also know that Samsung has flexible displays and has been working on a high resolution display and since these new processors (Exynos 5250 and above) support resolutions up to 2560×1600, we can bet to see a new Samsung based “retina display” (For any of Apple’s legal team thinking that I’m saying, “copy iPhone”, I’m not. I’m simply using it’s quality as a comparison so people can see we will have better anyway, LOL)
        The great conclusion being that the new RAM rated at 12.8 GB/s and the Memory bandwidth of the Exynos 5250 processor (also rated at 12.8GB/s) show that these two chips will work at the same speed and therefore drastically increase perfomance on the GS4! I can’t wait!!!!! I BETTER BE RIGHT!

  3. And yet there are idiot’s out there that claim Samsung dont innovate! Consider this an innovation B****es! Im looking at you apple, you can keep your revolutionary 4 inch display, thunder cable and panorama mode, at the end of the day, you are nothing without the various manufacturers that supply their innovative and leading tech to you!

    Id expect this to be at least a feature on the S4, maybe not so much the next nexus device, but if it did, consider that another tick in the nexus box!

    1. Well, Samsung has an awesome semiconductor business (of which Apple is their #1 customer). Apple just knows how to make a shiny product using everyone else’s tech. But that might soon change now that Apple is making their own chipsets with the A6.

      1. wow my very first Chris Chavez reply………Reply Cherry popped lol.
        Yes this is true! The one thing that bugs me about consumers is the lack of knowledge behind what actually makes an iphone complete! The thing that would also be interesting is if apple will adopt such a sized memory in their next iteration, or if they will just go with the current 64gb max memory, and save going big for the i6…..or the 8 (which ever it is)

        1. Gaaaah. Totally forgot about Apple. Yeah, I could see them adding this very same chip in their 2013 iPod (or 2014).

          Android/Google is too focused on the cloud to likely ever go this big with physical memory.

          1. I think locally stored info is very important, With how long 32gb and 64Gb chips have been out, we should be seeing phones selling for a subsidized price of 200 with a 32GB IMO. The 16GB’s are not cutting it. Im a huge fan of reggaeton music and hoping to push my 16GB of music to a phone with lots of room to spare. Not a fan of the cloud, My current lifestyle doesnt allow me the time or the resources to push that much music to the internet.

          2. agreed my thing about the cloud its not fast enough streamwise and these data caps the carriers have….i really hope future versions of nexus devices us micro sd cards

          3. Cloud wont help when you dont have internet. Actual storage is better than online storage. I don’t trust some files to online storage, but I do to my own physical one.

          4. Strange, I got the opposite impression..

    2. You can “innovate” in fields other than microprocessor fabrication and still have it be valid innovation. Samsung is an amazing company, and I love my GN, but to say Apple does not innovate in any significant way is absurd.

      1. Just playing devil’s advocate, but what has Apple created or innovated that has pushed the industry forward? Was it retina displays? Apple bought that from LG. Apple is a hype machine I’m sure if they claimed to make the sun, some iDiot would believe it….

        1. Their innovation is mostly on the packaging side and UI responsiveness side I’d say.

          1. So, Apple created the idea of responsive software. Hm. I could have sworn that idea has been around since….well….forever and packaging is not “innovation in the tech industry”. Nice try though.

          2. Way to completely remove any semblance of context from what I was saying.

            Mobile UI. Why would I be talking about anything else?
            And if you think Apple hasn’t introduced new methods of packaging silicon in a small form factor, just read some AnandTech articles on Apple products. They definitely have.

          3. All that is is translation of an existing idea into another product. I’ll give Apple credit for doing that in mobile phones but computers (and smartphones are just computers) have been shrinking for decades. What they did with the iPhone, just like everyone else with the slimming of theirs, is natural evolution of technology. Not a new idea.

          4. If you’re arguing that evolutionary upgrades aren’t new ideas or innovation, then how can you call Samsung’s upgrade from LPDDR2 to LPDDR3 anything but natural?

          5. Also, I am a huge android fan and have zero intention of going back to an iPhone (had a 3GS for a year when it came out). But the complete lack of credit that Android fans these days give Apple is astonishing and mindbogglingly biased.

          6. software side is their side…

    3. AND also do not give APPLE SQUAT! LET THEM USE THEIR OWN PRODUCTS AND USE OTHER MANUFACTURERS to build parts.. I promise that as Samsung keeps making strides, Apple manufacturer partners will look less and less attractive, further dilluting the quality of the iPhone series… Let them starve as Samsung keeps generating new technology, and share it with those who are willing to pay for it.

  4. Samsung is already having trouble producing a 64gb variant of the gs3. Plus, a 128 GB version of their next phone would cost hella extra money from the standard lower GB version.

    1. Yeah, I don’t think we’ll “be there’ by 2013. Maybe 2014. Next year I think we’ll start seeing the move to 32GB/64GB storage in a lot of devices.

    2. You think they’re having trouble making them and that’s why they weren’t out from day one?

    3. No, mass production is going to help them lower the costs.

  5. I can’t wait to see how Apple claims to have innovated this memory chip!

  6. the speed of the harddrive/nand flash dids indeed make a huge difference. The best way to see this outcome to compare a PC running on a conventional magnetic hard drive vs one running on an SSD. After I upgraded my PC to an SSD I was stomped by the difference, I expected it to be faster but I had no idea that it will make such a huge jump.

  7. Am I the only one chanting “Please be in the next Nexus!”

    1. Nope, that’s my dream too

    2. I’d immediately sell the Note 2 that I had only bought like a month before for that lol

  8. Nice. Plenty of room to spare on the next gen devices. It would be nice if the Galaxy S IV would have this as an option on day one. It would be even better if Moto gets on board and use this on the 2013 Razr Maxx HD or whatever they are going to call their next Maxx device.

  9. I’m thinking this is targeted towards a growing photo enthusiasts for SLR cameras as well as mobile enthusiasts

    1. No, Samsung understands that as the world’s mobile networks get faster (4G LTE, and even 5G being studied by UK), files and programs will also be bigger and more detailed. They will require more space, making it harder to have a wide variety of apps if you don’t have adequate storage. The point will be that bigger programs and more details will make phones better by enhancing the quality and content, even if a lil’ more space is required.

  10. Awesome, I’d love it if they put one of these chips in a nexus smartphone, then I wouldn’t have to struggle with only 16GB (I have the GSM version) and no sdcard. Put 128GB card in any android phone and I wouldn’t complain if it had an sd card slot or not.

  11. So, $100 per 16GB, that makes it $800 for $128GB of memory, if Samsung continues to follow Apple’s memory pricing structure.

    1. Actually it’s more like $100 per ‘step’ 8-16-32-64-128.

  12. This would help the Ubuntu on Android a little on the way. :)

  13. I’m gonna need 128GB in my phone with an empty slot, of which I’ll put a 64GB micro sd card in. I should be able to fit most of my music on there at that point. Yes I’m serious lol

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