Samsung Electronics announced Tuesday that it had begun mass production of the industry’s first 16-gigabyte DRAM for premium smartphones.

The 16 GB low-power DDR5 DRAM, based on Samsung’s second-generation 10-nanometer-class (1y) process technology, offers a data transfer rate of 5,500 megabits per second, which is about 1.3 times faster than the previous mobile memory LPDDR4X. It also offers an energy savings of over 20 percent while providing twice the capacity.

The advance will enhance 5G and artificial intelligence features, including graphics-rich gaming and smart photography on premium smartphones, according to the company.

In addition to the 16 GB product, the company plans to mass-produce 16-gigabit LPDDR5 products based on third-generation 10-nanometer-class (1z) process technology in the second half of this year, in line with the development of a 6,400-megabit-per-second chipset.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)