MicroSD storage in smartphones is now becoming extinct because the read and write speeds of this storage are slower than UFS 4.0 used by the majority of leading devices. The storage may be large but the performance will be compromised. In China, the company Biwin launched a new physical storage format called Mini SSD. It offers speeds as fast as SSD but a slightly larger size (15 x 17 x 1.4 mm) compared to MicroSD (15 × 11 × 1 mm).
It is marketed with read speeds of up to 3700 MB/s and writes at speeds of 3400MB/ using a PCIe 4×2 connection. It is offered in storage options of 512GB, 1TB and 2TB. Biwin says the Mini SSD is marketed for use. In comparison, MicroSD Express cards have write speeds of up to 900 MB/s and read speeds of up to 750 MB/s.
The product is launched for use in smartphones, tablets, laptops, cameras and even consoles. Because the Mini SD format is still new, so far only the GPD Win 5 mobile console and the OneNetbook laptop support it, and even then only for the Chinese market.