Samsung Electronics has squeezed 4GB of storage into a mobile phone chip set that the manufacturer believes could eliminate the need for external memory card slots.

The embedded multichip system, called moviMCP, packs several memory functions into one unit, removing the need for an external expansion slot and thus freeing up space in tightly packed mobile phones, the company said Wednesday. The package includes two 16Gb NAND flash chips and a controller, a 1Gb mobile DRAM chip to support the processor and a 2Gb NAND flash chip for general handset operations.

Samsung has used the eMMC interface, based on the MultiMedia Card association (MMCA) standard for embedded memory, in an effort to sidestep the difficulty of designing interfaces for different types of NAND flash memory. The standard is designed to eliminate the need to develop interface software for each type of NAND flash memory.

The new multichip package will allow handset manufacturers not only to design smaller phones with higher storage capacity but also to significantly reduce the time required to develop these products, Samsung said.

The moviMCP is available for OEM (original equipment manufacturer) sampling. Pricing information was not available.