Solid state storage has just got a super-charged boost in China where these new Mini SSD drives are being introduced.
These offer the portability of MicroSD but with speeds closer to M.2 storage. Manufacturer, Biwin, has teased them in a video but is yet to announce timings or pricing.
Until now, when it came to physical data storage, you've had to make the choice between speed and size. You can get the ultra compact MicroSD or the blazing speeds of M.2 storage. Now a new Mini SSD could get you closer to the best of both.
Teased online in a video, the Mini SSD – as its manufacturing company Biwin calls it – is apparently due soon alongside devices that will support it.
This means we could soon get a drive just slightly bigger than a MicroSD card, yet offers up to 2TB capacity with a read speed of 3,700 MB/s. To put that in context, the latest MicroSD Express cards for the Nintendo Switch 2 will top out at 986MB/s.
To be clear, these are a lot faster than MicroSD but are still close to the larger SD cards, which top out at 3,940 MB/s. Also, they're not going to actually beat M.2 in a race – those can hit a mind-melting 14,000 MB/s in theory.
But this is the smallest, fastest combination we've seen so far – which could set it apart from everything that's come before. What's less clear is how easy this new storage device will be for other tech manufacturers to adopt.
From the initial marketing it appears easy, shipping with an adapter that lets you slip it into a USB port like any flash drive.
Crucially these are small enough to fit in phones. Here's hoping smartphones start adopting this in the near future.
The company says this drive is IP68 water and dust resistant as well as being able to withstand a drop from as high as three metres.
So far two Chinese gaming portables have announced they will work with the new Mini SSDs: the Strix Halo and GPD Win 5.
Expect pricing and release date to be revealed in the near future.
