Samsung today announced that it has developed the fastest micro memory card with a gigabyte of density, for use in small cell phones, digital cameras and MP3 players. High demand for the high-speed 1 GB MMCmicro card is expected from cell phone manufacturers because of its compelling combination of features: speed, capacity, size and reduced power consumption.

The new 1 GB MMCmicro, at 7.12 MBs per second, writes 3.5 times as fast as other micro cards being sold today. It can store 20 five-megapixel pictures in 11 seconds, while other cards take up to 30 seconds, or even longer, to do the same.

"The card is large enough to store 15 hours of mobile video and fast enough to download 90 minutes of it in under two minutes," said Don Barnetson, Associate Director, Flash Marketing, Samsung Semiconductor., USA.

Samsung's new MMCmicro comes with a dual voltage of 1.8 volts and 3.3V. The lower voltage version reduces power consumption 82 percent over other micro-sized cards. An adapter allows the card to be plugged into any multimedia card slot.

The card - the size of a fingernail (12mmx14mmx1.1mm) - houses four NAND flash memories and a controller. The 1 GB MMCmicro will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2006.