[Guide] Difference between UFS2.0 and UFS2.1 Flash, not the speed!

[xlgssss]

Hi there, UFS2.0 and UFS2.1 are the standards by JEDEC.
UFS2.0 is generated in Sept. 2013, and UFS2.1 in Mar. 2016, as a complementary of UFS2.0.

a) Related documents:
UFS2.0：JESD220B (Sept. 2013)
UFS2.1：JESD220C (Mar. 2016)

b) About speed:
No matter the flash is UFS2.0 or UFS2.1, they must support HS-G2 interface physical layer agreement (1-Lane up to 2.9Gbps and 2-lane up to 5.8Gbps). And HS-G3 is optional (1-Lane up to 5.8Gbps and 2-lane up to 11.6Gbps).
Speed is not the discrimination of UFS2.0 and UFS2.1!
UFS2.1 flash memories are regularly faster only because they are newest products and with better integrated controllers and flash cell technologies.

c) About the differentiation between UFS2.0 and UFS2.1:
JESD220C Universal Flash Storage version 2.1 offers key improvements over earlier versions and will provide data security through the use of inline cryptography between the SoC and UFS Storage device.
UFS 2.1 defines the following updates over the prior version of the standard:
i) Inclusion of a Device Health Descriptor: the descriptor provides detailed information on the life of a device, thus allowing for better preventative maintenance, which is advantageous to most areas of the market and especially important in the automotive market.
ii) Addition of Secure Write Protection: this allows for the use of fine-grained write protection as required by modern high-level operating systems (OS) and applications.
iii) Field Firmware Update: enables the device vendor to improve performance and implement bug fixes, as well as facilitating the addition of new features in products that have already shipped to end customers.
iv) Command priority: improves system performance, allowing the software to assign higher priority to more urgent tasks.
So the auxiliary functions are the differences between UFS2.0 and UFS2.1.

d) Want to know what exactly your flash is (Part Number & UFS2.0/2.1)? Please click here (do not need to ROOT):
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-9/help/guide-method-to-flash-part-to-ufs2-0-t3598938

__________________
Updates:
This post is talking about UFS2.1 and UFS2.0 Standard, not the specific flash memory products.
So some statements are true here:
a) UFS2.1 standard is not faster than UFS2.0 standard.
b) For the mobile flash memory products from the same company, the UFS2.1 flash memory product is usually better/faster than the UFS2.0 flash memory product, because the former is new.

 

[zayidhs]

Hi there, UFS2.0 and UFS2.1 are the standards by JEDEC.
UFS2.0 is generated in Sept. 2013, and UFS2.1 in Mar. 2016, as a complementary of UFS2.0.

a) Related documents:
UFS2.0：JESD220B (Sept. 2013)
UFS2.1：JESD220C (Mar. 2016)

b) About speed:
No matter the flash is UFS2.0 or UFS2.1, they must support HS-G2 interface physical layer agreement (1-Lane up to 2.9Gbps and 2-lane up to 5.8Gbps). And HS-G3 is optional (1-Lane up to 5.8Gbps and 2-lane up to 11.6Gbps).
Speed is not the discrimination of UFS2.0 and UFS2.1!
UFS2.1 flash memories are regularly faster only because they are newest product and with better integrated controllers and flash cell technologies.

c) About the differentiation between UFS2.0 and UFS2.1:
JESD220C Universal Flash Storage version 2.1 offers key improvements over earlier versions and will provide data security through the use of inline cryptography between the SoC and UFS Storage device.
UFS 2.1 defines the following updates over the prior version of the standard:
i) Inclusion of a Device Health Descriptor: the descriptor provides detailed information on the life of a device, thus allowing for better preventative maintenance, which is advantageous to most areas of the market and especially important in the automotive market.
ii) Addition of Secure Write Protection: this allows for the use of fine-grained write protection as required by modern high-level operating systems (OS) and applications.
iii) Field Firmware Update: enables the device vendor to improve performance and implement bug fixes, as well as facilitating the addition of new features in products that have already shipped to end customers.
iv) Command priority: improves system performance, allowing the software to assign higher priority to more urgent tasks.
So the auxiliary functions are the differences between UFS2.0 and UFS2.1.

d) Want to know what exactly your flash is (Part Number and UFS2.0/2.1)? Please click here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-9/help/guide-method-to-flash-part-to-ufs2-0-t3598938

Please look at C - iv and tell me what is the improvement in performance.
Reduction of heat?

 

[xlgssss]

Please look at C - iv and tell me what is the improvement in performance.
Reduction of heat?

C iv is a function to increase the system performance (operating speed of urgent tasks) of the phone. Seems not related to power loss and heat.

 

[zayidhs]

So, this improvement which has been introduced in 2.1 but is lacking in 2.0 will make the 2.1 faster by improving operating speeds right?

How then is speed not a factor in difference between the two?

 

[xlgssss]

So, this improvement which has been introduced in 2.1 but is lacking in 2.0 will make the 2.1 faster by improving operating speeds right?

How then is speed not a factor in difference between the two?

Replied you in the other post: https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-9/help/guide-method-to-flash-part-to-ufs2-0-t3598938

 

[xlgssss]

So, this improvement which has been introduced in 2.1 but is lacking in 2.0 will make the 2.1 faster by improving operating speeds right?

How then is speed not a factor in difference between the two?

The flash memory companies always say something like 'our ufs2.1 product is 40% faster than the prevous version' BLABLABLA. But this speed improvement is not because of UFS2.x Standard. This is becuase that they are new product. And the company must improve them to attract the customers. And "UFS2.1" in their advertisement is just another same-level feature (as of the speed) of the product, to make it attractive.