Your next phone could have as much storage as a laptop

These cards could cram 256GB onto a smart phone

Stuck deleting apps and old podcasts to make room on your smartphone? That may no longer be an issue with Samsung's new breed of storage chips, which can store a whopping 256 gigabytes at a size smaller than a microSD card.

Utilizing Universal Flash Storage (UFS), the memory chips are not only dense with storage, but also quick on their feet. According to Samsung, they can move data twice as fast as the average solid-state drive in a personal computer, with about the same amount of storage space found in the average laptop.

Being both high-speed and high-capacity, the UFS memory chips could make 4K streaming on mobile devices a breeze, as well as add greater multitasking capabilities.

This is what Samsung wants to focus on, saying the sheer amount of space for movies and other content lets the chips grant "much greater flexibility in handheld consumer electronics."

Samsung's new tech is also compatible with USB 3.0 interface, meaning faster transfers and lower loading times between mobile devices. Since USB 3.0 can transfer a full-length HD movie in a matter of seconds, users may fill up all those extra gigabytes in no time.

The chips are currently in mass production, but Samsung has yet to detail which devices will get the boost. 4K streaming typically work best on a high-end tablet, but perhaps these chips will make their way to the Galaxy S8?

No matter where they end up, considering that compact storage often comes at a premium, we hope having gigs to spare will also spare our wallets.

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Parker Wilhelm
Parker Wilhelm is a freelance writer for TechRadar. He likes to tinker in Photoshop and talk people's ears off about Persona 4.