SD memory cards get a significant speed boost

(Toshiba)

On September 2 Toshiba announced the launch of the world's fastest SDHC memory cards.

Toshiba's new 8GB, 16GB and 32GB SDHC UHS-I cards (product names THNSU008GAA21J, THNSU016GAA21K, and THNSU032GAA21L respectively) are capable of offering consumers blazing fast speeds, two times as fast as the company's existing top-end SD memory cards.

Toshiba's new cards, which are used to store and transfer digital information such as the photos you capture on your digital camera or the applications you use on some mobile phones, comply with the recently announced Ultra High Speed (UHS) Interface SD memory card specifications set out by the SD Association and have a maximum read speed of 95MB per second and can write information at speeds of up to 80MB per second.

But it won't be long until Toshiba's ultra-fast cards are eclipsed by new products. On September 2 the SD Association announced it had defined a new SD 4.0 specification that can achieve speeds of up to 300MB per second. The new cards will have a dual-row design and are are expected to arrive in early 2011.

In the meantime, other consumer electronics companies are catching up to Toshiba with a range of SDHC USH-I specification cards due to reach the market by as early as November.

On September 2 Panasonic showed off its RP-SDY08G 8GB and RP-SDY16G 16GB SDHC cards, both which enable reading speeds of up to 60MB per second.

A large range of new SDHC UHS-I cards are on show at IFA 2010 in Berlin, Germany from September 3 and from September 21 at Photokina in Cologne, Germany.

Sample shipments of Toshiba's THNSU032GAA21L will be available from November while mass production of the 16 and 32GB SD cards THNSU008GAA21J and THNSU016GAA21K will start in December.