Samsung enhances MMC cards to 1GB and 2GB capacity

Samsung today announced that it is sampling Gigabyte MultiMediaCards (MMCs) with customers: 1GB and 2GB MMCplus cards, and the industry's first 1GB MMCmobile card. The higher densities and faster speeds of Samsung's Version 4.1 memory cards will allow consumers to gain higher performance from advanced mobile consumer devices, such as mobile phones, digital still cameras, PDAs, MP3 music players and PMPs (portable multimedia players).

The new cards are capable of transmitting data at 52MBytes per second, up to 20 times faster than previous MMC versions, by supporting wider (x4 and x8) bus widths and faster clock speeds (up to 52MHz).

The industry's first gigabyte-density MMCmobile device is targeted at mobile phone applications. The memory card is half the size of the MMCplus and capable of dual-voltage support (1.8 or 3.3V), satisfying both the low voltage and the low power consumption requirements for mobile phones.

The new MMCplus devices, which run on 3.3V and are up to three times faster than SD Memory Cards, are well-suited for digital cameras, which require fast response times for manipulating advanced features.

The new gigabyte cards add to Samsung's original line-up of 64MByte, 128MByte, 256MByte and 512MByte MMC cards. The 1GB MMCmobile, as well as the 1GB and 2GB MMCplus cards are available now for customer sampling, with mass production slated for next month. Each MMC device is compatible with existing MMC (Version 4.1) specifications, established by the MultiMediaCard Association (MMCA).