Samsung Electronics said it has develop the industry's first 1 gigabit (Gb) mobile DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) for mobile products that will be more cost-effective than the double-die stack, 1Gb solutions currently in use for digital still cameras, portable media and game players and advanced handsets.

Samsung said an advantage of the 1Gb mobile DRAM, also known as low-power DDR (Double Data Rate) or Synchronous DRAM, is that it will use 30 percent less electric current than double-die stack alternatives.

Also, the new chip uses the same packaging technique as the 512MB double-die stack 1Gb package, but includes a new temperature-sensing feature designed to reduce power drain in standby mode by 30 percent over conventional memory design.

Lastly, the 1Gb mobile sports a more compact form factor, at least 20 percent thinner, that will allow for a single high-density package of 1.5Gb or 2Gb mobile DRAM memory, for which Samsung said there is growing demand. The 1 Gb mobile DRAM can also be packaged with Flash memory in certain designs.

Samsung said it plans to mass produce the 1Gb mobile DRAM in the second quarter of 2007.

"This is another one of those incremental advances that work in favor of the idea of more powerful systems in mobile environments," Roger Kay, analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates, told internetnews.com.

"More intelligent phones are becoming a burgeoning platform; they won't replace PCs but they are a viable endpoint or client for what many people need to do.

"This announcement positions Samsung well to supply these new endpoints," Kay said. "No one is saying they want less memory, but they do want to use less power."