Cheap Android phones may still use slower eMMC storage

Before you buy an Android phone for $200 or less, check how fast its storage is. Capacity matters less. Budget phones use one of two memory types: the older eMMC or the newer UFS. BGR reports that UFS can read and write data at the same time, which gives it a clear edge. BGR also notes that the standards group JEDEC, which looks after both, has effectively made UFS the successor to eMMC.

Many recent low-price models have already moved to UFS. The Samsung Galaxy A17 5G and the Moto G Play 2026 both use UFS 2.2, which reads at more than 500MB per second on average. That is roughly double the performance of an eMMC 5.1 drive, or even better. Some feature phones, such as the TCL Flip 4 5G, still use eMMC, and so do very cheap Chromebooks.

Cost pressure may shrink budget market

Memory prices are high, driven by huge demand from artificial intelligence. NAND flash and DRAM chips are not expected to fall in price anytime soon. Samsung raised the Galaxy A17 twice after its U.S. launch this year, from $200 to $250 in August and then to $270 this month. Many other Samsung phones also got a price rise in October, and other tech companies have raised prices too. eMMC is still used in phones sold outside the U.S., such as the Galaxy A07. Whether it returns to America is an open question.