SD Association going for 624 MB/s with UHS-III

The SD Association announced UHS-III, doubling the fastest SD memory card transfer rate up to 624 MB/s through double bus speed. UHS-III (revision 6) faster speeds help move large amounts of data generated by data-intense Gbps wireless communication, 360-degree cameras, drones, 3D, 4K and 8K videos recorded on SDXC and SDHC memory cards.

Immense storage capacities introduced with SDXC memory cards give users the ability to take more pictures and make unique video features on the latest imaging devices. Fast UHS bus interfaces help users manage that content more quickly. Since it is fully backwards compatible, devices offering UHS-III bus interface will accept the billions of existing SD memory cards in the market today.

“SD memory card capabilities continue to expand, paving the way for new and highly anticipated imaging and video features, from virtual reality to 8K video,” said Brian Kumagai, SDA president.

“The SDA remains committed to supporting innovation by consumer electronics manufacturers and to delivering the same performance and interoperability consumers and professional users love about SD memory cards.”

The SDA released a visual mark to denote UHS-III SD memory cards for easy matching with devices’ recommendation for the best SD memory card for optimal performance.

UHS Bus Interface The UHS-III high-speed interface signals are assigned to the second row of SD memory card pins introduced with UHS-II. This newest bus transfer speed option will be available in full-size SDHC and SDXC cards, as well as microSDHC and microSDXC cards. It does not change the physical size or shape of the cards as the move from UHS-II to UHS-III involves only a PHY change, allowing relatively easy and fast upgrades of existing UHS-II products to UHS-III. Both UHS-I and UHS-II make the robust storage specified for SDHC and SDXC manageable and even more portable.

Ultra High Speed was announced in June 2010 with UHS-I delivering top bus-interface speeds of 104 MB/sec, which was tripled to 312 MB/sec in UHS-II. UHS bus interfaces are backwards compatible and are exclusive to SDXC and SDHC products. All UHS-equipped memory cards achieve greatest performance when paired with corresponding UHS devices. SDXC and SDHC UHS-I and UHS-II products are already in retail outlets around the world and supported by leading camera manufacturers.