Chinese storage company Biwin has unveiled a new type of removable storage called the Mini SSD, which is only slightly larger than a microSD card but delivers blazing-fast speeds thanks to its PCIe Gen 4 x2 connection and NVMe 1.4 support.
These tiny powerhouses promise read speeds of up to 3,700 MB/s and write speeds of up to 3,400 MB/s, making them significantly faster than most current SD cards. At launch, they’ll be available in capacities ranging from 512GB to 2TB.
Measuring just 15 x 17 x 1.4mm, the Mini SSD is only a little bigger than a microSD card (15 x 11 x 1mm) but much smaller than a full-sized SD card (32 x 24 x 1.4mm). Despite their compact size, Biwin says these drives are built to last—they’re shock and vibration resistant, can survive drops from up to 3 meters (10 feet), and carry an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
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Some Chinese PC makers are already jumping on board. The upcoming GPD Win 5 handheld gaming PC and the ONEXPLAYER Super X gaming tablet will both include Mini SSD card slots. Interestingly, the slots resemble SIM card trays, where users will need to eject them with a pin, similar to how smartphones handle SIM cards.
Right now, Biwin is the only company known to be producing Mini SSDs. There’s no word yet on pricing, availability, or whether other manufacturers will adopt the format.