Toshiba preps 16GB flash for music players, phones

Toshiba this morning crystallized details of new, 16GB flash memory that could dramatically alter the nature of storage. A shrink to 56-nanometer lets the storage maker fit eight 2GB flash elements into a single chip, along with an on-die controller that helps the memory communicate quickly with 15MB/sec reading speeds and 6MB/sec writes. The chip is no larger than most smaller capacity models and should easily fit in music players or cellphones -- offering 4,000 songs in a very small space, Toshiba boasts.

The specific 16GB chip should sample in spring with a launch in consumer hardware by the fall, while the company also expects 8GB chips to be ready a few months earlier for a summer release date.