Dubbed the “Mini SSD” or “1517”this wafer-thin storage device is already making its debut in high-end Chinese gaming portables.

At just 15mm by 17mm and 1.4mm thick, the Mini SSD is smaller than a US penny and marginally bulkier than a MicroSD. It manages to cram in up to 2TB of storage and shift data at 3,700MB/s read and 3,400MB/s write, thanks to a PCIe 4x2 interface. That gives it a massive edge over MicroSD Express, which tops out at a wheezy 985MB/s.

While not quite up to the breakneck speeds of full-sized M.2 drives, some of which clock in at up to 14GB/s, it is still speedy for something that could fit under your thumbnail. SD Express cards are theoretically faster on paper at 3,940MB/s, but they are also nearly twice the size.

The Mini SSD has IP68 water and dust resistance and claims it can survive a three metre drop.

Instead of following the M.2 playbook, the drive uses a SIM-tray-style slot, just like swapping out your phone’s SIM card with a paperclip. That makes it ideal for portable kit and neatly sidesteps the bulky shielding of typical SSD enclosures.

Biwin says it is targeting laptops, phones, tablets and cameras. So far, two Chinese handhelds are confirmed adopters: the GPD Win 5, a chunky gaming unit running AMD’s Strix Halo silicon, and OneNetbook’s OneXPlayer Super X hybrid, which has the same chip and a dedicated Mini SSD slot.

There is no pricing yet and no word on whether other manufacturers will pick it up, so for now, it is one of those clever bits of kit that might stay trapped in niche hardware until someone slaps a logo on it and sells it globally.