Leading memory maker SK hynix today announced it has developed a UFS 4.1 storage solution built upon its 321-layer 4D NAND flash. The super dense NAND chips which will power these UFS 4.1 ICs are expected to facilitate both 512GB and 1TB capacities, and arrive in Q1 2026 in smartphones. Moreover, the new NAND chips are said to be 15% thinner than the previous generation, yet deliver “best-in-class consecutive reading performance” at low power. SK hynix said the same 321-layer 4D NAND flash chips will also be utilized in PC SSDs within the year.
Let’s drill down on some of the benefits that SK hynix claims for the new UFS 4.1 ICs. In terms of performance, users can expect data transfer speeds as high as 4,300 MB/s, says the South Korean memory maker. From a PC enthusiast perspective, that’s better than you could expect from the best PCIe NVMe Gen 3 SSDs. However, it isn't any faster than SK hynix's own current gen UFS 4.1 solution, based upon 238-layer 4D NAND flash.
