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Your Next Phone Could Have 256GB of Storage

Finally, space for all of those 4K videos.

Samsung's new 256-gigabyte smartphone memory chips Credit: Samsung

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Not every smartphone enjoys the luxury of expandable storage, which means even some flagships are often in danger of running out of memory.

But Samsung is hoping to change that. The company recently announced that it has been developing the industry's first 256GB memory chip, which will use the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 standard. Until now, 128GB has been the most memory available in any mainstream device.

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The new flash memory chips also take advantage of the newer USB 3.0 interface, which Samsung cites when describing the blistering transfer speeds that these chips are capable of. Thanks to USB 3.0, these chips will make transferring a 5GB, full-HD video a mere 12-second affair. Yowza.

{{amazon name="Samsung 64GB Micro SDXC Card with Adapter", asin="B00IVPU7AO", align="right"}} Despite their massive capacity, these chips are also impossibly and miraculously small—smaller than a standard micro SD card, which gives smartphone manufacturers incredible flexibility when it comes to their smartphone designs.

As other smartphone makers continue to look for ways around the issue of limited storage, Samsung is brute-forcing its way through the problem. Their work may pay off for other brands, as well: Apple and others have sourced memory from the Korean giant in the past, so it's not a huge leap to suggest that these 256GB chips could end up in future iPhones.

One thing's for sure: There's no longer an excuse for companies to offer 16GB base smartphone models (yes, that means you, Apple).

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