Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra may feature next-generation UFS storage at a two-times faster speed. A rumor passed along X says the 2025 Ultra flagship will boast UFS 4.1 with data transfer rates of 8GB per second. UFS 4.0, found on the Galaxy S24 Ultra and many other devices, tops at 4GB per second. UFS 5.0 with even faster speed is expected in 2027, hopefully in time for the GalaxyS27 Ultra.
Galaxy S25 Ultra to feature UFS 4.1 with double the speed
Samsung started making UFS 4.0 storage chips in 2022, though the first Galaxy phone to feature the new solution came in early 2023. The Galaxy S23 series made the big jump from UFS 3.1, bringing much faster data transfer rates. All subsequent flagships, including foldables, got UFS 4.0 storage (except for the 128GB variants—Samsung still doesn’t make UFS 4.0 chips with 128GB capacity).
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, which should arrive next month, will see no upgrade in this area. However, next year, Samsung may be planning to introduce UFS 4.1 to Galaxy devices, at least the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The other two models may still boast UFS 4.0. If the Korean firm persists with a 128GB variant for the base Galaxy S25, UFS 3.1 may be around too.
As revealed earlier this year, UFS 4.1 is UFS 4.0 with 4-lane CS. It combines two UFS controllers for faster sequential read speed. Theoretically, we are expecting the speed to double to 8GB per second. If the Galaxy S25 Ultra gets the improved storage chip, it could be well-prepared to deliver smooth on-device performance. There are already rumors that the phone will get a RAM boost to 16GB.
It is unclear if Samsung will completely leave the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ out of the UFS 4.1 bandwagon or if only the base variants will miss out on this upgrade. We might hear more about this from industry insiders in the coming months. Perhaps following the big event next month where the company will announce new foldables, watches, earbuds, and more exciting products.
UFS 5.0 may be a smaller upgrade
In theory, the jump from UFS 4.1 to UFS 5.0 should be bigger than UFS 4.0 to UFS 4.1. However, early estimates suggest that won’t be the case. While the immediate minor upgrade will seemingly double the read speed, UFS 5.0 isn’t expected to double that to 16GB per second. The speed will be higher than 10GB per second, but we don’t have a final number. Of course, plenty could change over the next two or three years, so stay tuned.
