Micron 2600 SSD Touts Adaptive Write Tech For Big Speed Gains On Budget Storage

Micron's newly announced 2600 series of NVMe SSDs is a set of PCIe Gen4 drives the company says delivers TLC-like performance while retaining the cost efficiency of QLC NAND. The key to that claim? A new in-house caching approach dubbed Adaptive Write Technology (AWT), which Micron says significantly boosts write speeds—up to 63% faster sequential writes and 49% faster random writes—compared to competing value-tier QLC and TLC SSDs.

According to Micron, the 2600 SSD is the first to use its 9th-generation QLC NAND, a 2Tb die with a six-plane architecture. That internal design reportedly enables higher parallelism and better command throughput, helping the drive hit NAND I/O speeds of up to 3.6 GB/s. If accurate, that would make it the fastest client QLC SSD shipping to date. AWT itself is pitched as a multi-tiered caching system that dynamically shifts between SLC, TLC, and QLC modes to maintain performance across larger workloads. Micron claims the 2TB variant can sustain fast sequential writes even when continuously writing up to 800GB of data—something traditional QLC drives often struggle with once their small SLC caches fill up.


As always, some salt is warranted. Micron’s comparisons are based on internal testing and publicly available datasheets from top OEM SSD vendors, with caveats about SKU availability and test conditions. That said, the company cites PCMark 10 scores showing up to 44% better overall performance and 43% higher bandwidth versus “value TLC” competitors—solid numbers, if they hold up in independent reviews. The 2600 comes in a range of M.2 sizes—22x30mm, 22x42mm, and 22x80mm—with capacities from 512GB to 2TB. The smaller 2TB, 2230 model seems squarely aimed at handheld gaming devices and ultrathin laptops, where both performance and physical footprint are at a premium.


Micron's new drive is already shipping to OEMs and is featured on Intel’s Platform Component List, with endorsements from AMD, IBM, Intel, Phison, and Pure Storage peppered throughout Micron’s press release. Under the hood, the SSD uses a Phison E29T controller, which Phison CEO K.S. Pua says helps unlock the potential of the new G9 QLC NAND in both client and enterprise designs.

No word yet on retail availability or standalone pricing, but given the focus on OEMs, this may be one of those drives that starts life in prebuilt systems before hitting the DIY scene. Still, if Micron’s claims pan out, the 2600 could be a rare budget-tier SSD that doesn’t falter when pushed with sustained workloads—a welcome shift for folks looking for decent storage without coughing up TLC premiums.