The Galaxy S25 might come with a faster storage to boost its AI prowess

At this point, it's more than clear that phone makers will turn to the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to propel their best phones further into the future. However, a major requirement for this to happen is having hardware capable of facilitating AI-based features.

The first and most crucial piece of hardware is, of course, the silicon (chipset) inside the phone. The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 are part of a new generation of processors specifically designed for on-device AI.

But besides the chips that enable the magic we see on our phones, there are a few other components that affect the speed at which that magic happens. One of these components is storage.

Now, some of you know this very well, others might think that storage only comes in different sizes. However, storage has another aspect: speed. The latest and greatest phone storage technology has been created by Samsung itself, or Samsung Semiconductor to be more precise, dubbed UFS 4.0.

UFS stands for Universal Flash Storage, and version 4.0 is about twice as fast in read and write speeds as the previous generation, UFS 3.1. Today, Samsung Semiconductor revealed its plans for the near future on the social media platform. Weixin (via SamMobile).

Samsung's roadmap for the next generations of universal flash storage (UFS).

The roadmap shows an upgrade called UFS 4.0 4-lane CS, which is scheduled for release in 2025, with production expected to start in 2024. Samsung explains that the 4-lane UFS 4.0 memory combines two UFS controllers for Increased sequential read speed, which is probably where the “4-way” part comes from.

This next iteration of UFS 4.0 will be capable of reaching speeds of 8 GB/s, compared to 4 GB/s of current UFS 4.0 storage. Samsung says this upgrade will make loading times and AI applications easier on the device, and that's where the whole AI thing fits in nicely.

What is beyond the horizon?

Beyond 4-way UFS 4.0, a little further ahead in time in 2027, Samsung plans to launch the next major milestone in mobile storage technology, UFS 5.0, said to be capable of reaching speeds of 10 GB/s. If the logic is correct, this means we could see the Galaxy S27 offer much faster storage. As for which Galaxy phone will be the first to get 4-lane UFS 4.0 storage, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume the Galaxy S25 series. could be the one to hope for. Given Samsung's plans to start production this year, this may well prove to be the case.