Samsung launches 8GB MMC card

Samsung has announced two new MultiMediaCard (MMC) storage cards for mobile phones, cameras and PDAs, boasting the world’s highest data density and performance.

Based on Samsung’s most advanced MLC (multi-level cell) NAND flash memory, the MMCplus card offers 8GB of storage, that will allow it to store 2,000 MP3 music files or eight hours of DVD-quality movies. The 8GB card sits at the top of a new range of MMCplus offerings that will include 1GB, 2GB and 4GB cards.

In addition to the 8GB card, the company also announced a new line of high-speed MMCplus cards that more than triple the performance of regular storage cards. Using higher performance SLC (single-level cell) NAND flash memory, the cards have a read-speed of 40MB per second and a write-speed of 25MB per second.

This allows the card to save six MP3 songs per second or two hours of DVD-quality movies in less than a minute. The high-performance card will available in densities of 1GB and 2GB. Both cards will launch soon.

MMC cards are slightly thinner than the more common SD cards but can be read by an SD slot; MMC slots cannot read SD cards, however.

High density storage cards represent a growth market according to Semico Research, which estimates that units sales will jump from 115 million units this year to 750 million units in 2009.