New Mini SSD Format Promises Faster, Easier Storage Upgrades for Portable Gaming Devices

The article discusses the development of Biwin’s ‘Mini SSD,’ a new removable storage format aiming to simplify and enhance the storage capabilities of portable gaming PCs and consoles. The Mini SSD is a small, 15 by 17 mm card, using an advanced PCI Express 4.0 interface and LGA packaging to deliver read speeds up to 3,700MB/s. Its compact design allows it to function much like a SIM card, making upgrades and replacements quick and easy for users, especially compared to traditional internal SSDs. Biwin’s innovation follows the recent adoption of the microSD Express standard by the Nintendo Switch 2, which pushed the need for high-performance storage in gaming devices capable of running titles typically developed for SSD-based systems like PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles. The Mini SSD is supported by upcoming Chinese gaming handhelds, GPD Win 5 and OneXPlayer Super X, and will be available in capacities between 500GB and 2TB. The article notes that increasing game sizes—growing by an average of 6.3GB per year since 2012—are driven by higher-resolution graphics, abundant cinematic content, and extensive language support, all increasing demand for fast, spacious storage. While it’s unclear if Mini SSDs will become a formal industry standard, their potential to make storage upgrades easier addresses a growing challenge for the gaming industry, giving users an alternative to complicated internal upgrades.