Samsung’s New T7 Touch External SSD Sports Built-in Fingerprint Reader, Twice the Performance

Samsung is stirring up a surprising amount of SSD news here at CES 2020. Yesterday the company dropped its first PCIe 4.0 SSD, the 980 Pro. And today it took the wraps off the Portable SSD T7 Touch --  followup to its Portable SSD T5 -- which shifts to a faster USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface (and to an NVMe interface), allowing for rated sequential read speeds of 1,050MBps and writes of 1,000MBps--roughly twice the speed of the previous model.

The other major change with this drive is the addition of an integrated fingerprint reader built into the aluminum shell, adding a level of biometric security alongside its AES 256-bit hardware encryption. Like previous models, the T7 Touch will support Windows, Mac, and Android for moving big files between your devices. And at just 2 ounces and a third of an inch thick, it’s not going to take up much room in your pocket or backpack when on the go.

The drive will be available in black or silver at launch on January 21, although a Samsung rep told us that other colors will likely come later. The drive will be offered in capacities of 500GB ($129.99), 1TB ($229.99) and 2TB ($399.99), will ship with both USB-C and USB-A cables, and comes with a three-year warranty. There will be a non-touch T7 (without the fingerprint reader) coming later in the year that will presumably sell for less, though pricing on that model isn’t yet available.

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