Samsung today claimed to have developed the "smallest, fastest and highest capacity" memory card for mobile phones, a 2GB MMCmicro device pitched as an alternative to the more commonplace MicroSD solid-state memory format.

MMCmicro cards measure 14 x 12 x 1.1mm. Samsung said it had squeezed four 4Gb NAND Flash chips into that space. The card can operate at 3.3V or 1.8V - for backward compatibility and battery-friendliness, respectively - and delivers read and write speeds of 7.4MBps and 7.1MBps respectively. MicroSD offers read and write speeds of 1.7MBps and 2MBps, Samsung said.

Of course, Samsung has yet to ship the 1GB MMCmicro it announced not so long ago. That product is due sometime this year, but Samsung declined to provide a timeframe for the 2GB card's availability in commercial quantities. ®