The CompactFlash Association (CFA) has announced new CFexpress 4.0 specifications that double the theoretical speed of CFexpress 2.0 while maintaining backwards compatibility.
According to an announcement on the organisation’s website, CFexpress 4.0 is an evolutionary specification from CFexpress 2.0 that employs the industry standard PCI Express® (PCIe) Gen4 bus and NVM Express (NVMe) 1.4c logical interface for even higher performance and efficient NAND Flash access. CFexpress 4.0 allows seamless migration from CFexpress 2.0 by utilizing the same underlying bus and logical interfaces of PCIe and NVMe while maintaining the exact same form factors. This allows the preservation of earlier investments made in CFexpress cards.
As before, CFexpress 4.0 will be offered in three form factors: Type A, which has been adopted by some Sony cameras, Type B, which is used in several Canon and Nikon cameras and Type C, which measures 54 x 74 x 4.8 mm and has yet to be adopted by camera manufacturers. The new standard will continue to support diverse performance levels to match various market requirements maintaining consistent electrical, logical, and physical interfaces, while setting realistic power consumption targets for wider adoption of the CFexpress 4.0 for battery-powered applications in the imaging and industrial markets. Utilising widely adopted open standards allows the use of established development platforms, saving development time, cost, and effort.
No details have been released so far about when the new cards will start shipping. Nor have any announcements been made about new cameras that will use them. In the interim, existing owners of CFexpress 2.0 cards will be able to use them in cameras designed for the new CFexpress 4.0 standard with the same form factors. Click here for more information.
