Kioxia introduced the world’s first removable, memory card size, high-speed SSD XFM drive

Kioxia, a Japanese firm, introduced the industry's first ultra-compact detachable SSD in the new XFM Embedded and Removable Memory Device (XFMD) format at its event yesterday. The XFM drive resembles an SD memory card externally, but it's size is between miniSD and microSD cards. The new drives are meant to be a replacement for fast SSDs in tiny gadgets, but they also have detaching capabilities.

The JEDEC committee gave the XFMD standard its blessing in August 2021. At the same time, Kioxia promised to be the first to release new detachable storage devices, while MediaTek announced plans to offer chipset support. We don't know much about any future products that might utilize XFM drives at this point, but there will certainly be some soon.

The XFM standard is intended to be an alternative to UFS drives in the one hand, and a substitute for SSDs in the M.2 format on the other. Although UFS drives are known for their compactness, they are not removable and must be integrated into the SoC. M.2 drives can be quite powerful, but they come with a high price tag and consume a lot of energy. A new type of removable disk that takes advantage of XFM's capabilities of quick replacement, small size, and high performance will undoubtedly surpass UFS drives in terms of consumption (though it will obviously outperform them in terms of power usage).

“The small size and low profile (14mm × 18mm × 1.4mm) of the JEDEC XFM DEVICE Ver.1.0 form factor offers a footprint of 252mm2, optimizing space for installing ultra-compact host devices without sacrificing performance or serviceability. With its minimized height, the XFMEXPRESS XT2 form factor is ideal for thin and light notebooks and opens up new design possibilities for next-generation solutions and systems.” – said in a press release from Kioxia.

The XFM brand is new and as yet has no product announcements. While the company has yet to reveal the specs of the first XFM drives, dual PCIe 4.0 lanes and NVMe 1.4b standards indicate top performance for tiny SSDs. We're waiting for more information.