Google Pixel 10 series finally upgrades to faster UFS 4.0 storage, ‘Zoned UFS’ on Pro

Ben Schoon | Aug 20 2025 - 9:25 am PT

Google’s Tensor G5 chip will be delivering a bit of a speed boost for the Pixel 10 series as a whole, but the company’s devices are getting an added boost this year with faster storage by way of the new “Zoned UFS” upgrade that includes – finally – UFS 4.0.

Since 2021’s Pixel 6 series, Google has been utilizing UFS 3.1 storage. At the time, that was the current standard in Android phones, but flagship-tier devices moved on to UFS 4.0 not long after. While either one can make for a snappy smartphone, UFS 4.0 makes some significant leaps forward. For one, read/write speeds are much higher. UFS 3.1 supports 2,100 MB/s read and 1,200 MB/s write, where UFS 4.0 jumps up to 4,200 MB/s read and 2,800 MB/s write. On top of that, UFS 4.0 is also considerably more power-efficient.

With most of the competition moving over to UFS 4.0 by 2023 – if not earlier – it’s been strange to see Google stick with the outdated UFS 3.1 for all of this time. But, finally, that’s changing.

The entire Pixel 10 series shifts over to UFS 4.0 storage. Combined with Tensor G5, it should deliver a much faster and snappier Android experience. Beyond just UFS 4.0, Google also notes that Pixel 10 Pro devices (including XL and Fold) will use something called “Zoned UFS” on their 512GB or higher variants. The company has yet to provide an explanation for what this means, though. We’ll update this post when that explanation is provided.

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For end users, the upgrade to UFS 4.0 storage in the Pixel 10 series probably won’t mean a ton. But, at the end of the day, it will make for a faster phone overall, as mentioned. After all, everything we do on our phones either requires pulling something from storage (read) or adding something to it (write), so more than doubling those speeds is a quick way to improve performance on the whole.