Micron announces a QLC SSD just weeks after killing its beloved Crucial brand — the 3610 is a basic Gen5 SSD that's somehow faster than Gen4 TLC

• Micron 3610 NVMe SSD offers the world’s only 4TB capacity in a single-sided M.2 2230
• Random read and write performance scales proportionally with the drive’s capacity
• Endurance increases with size

At CES 2026, Micron unveiled the 3610 PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD, a QLC-based drive for mainstream OEM PCs and notebooks.

This launch occurred weeks after Micron's December 2025 announcement that it would be discontinuing its Crucial consumer-SSD brand to focus on the enterprise and AI markets.

Micron says, the launch is the world’s first Gen5 G9 QLC client SSD, supporting PCIe Gen5 and NVMe 2.0 in multiple M.2 form factors.

Read and write speed upgrade

This device features a compact single-sided 2230 form factor that supports 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB storage capacity, allowing it to accommodate a range of ultra-thin laptops.

Micron claims sequential read speeds improve up to 57%, and sequential writes increase by 45% compared with Gen4 QLC drives.

The Micron 3610 NVMe SSD reportedly reaches sequential read speeds of up to 11,000 MB/s, but the write speeds vary depending on the storage capacity.

While the 1TB model hit write speeds of 7,200 MB/s, the 2TB and 4TB variants record around 9,300 MB/s.

The device’s random read and write performance increases with capacity, reaching 850 KIOPS read and 1,500 KIOPS write at 1TB, and up to 1,500 KIOPS read and 1,600 KIOPS write on larger capacities.

Its typical read latency is 50ms, while write latency remains at 12ms, which contributes to responsive multitasking, smooth media workflows, and faster application launches.

This level of performance, combined with AI-ready speed, reportedly enables multi-billion-parameter AI models to load in under three seconds.

The 3610’s endurance scales with capacity, with the 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB models rated at 400 TBW, 800 TBW, and 1,600 TBW, respectively, while all drives share a mean time to failure of two million hours.

The drive incorporates Micron G9 QLC NAND and supports hardware AES 256-bit encryption.

It also provides power-loss protection, host-controlled thermal management, block sanitization, crypto erase, and compliance with TCG Opal 2.02 and Pyrite 2.01 standards.

With Micron’s AWT technology, the device maintains consistent performance during extended workloads.

Benchmark results for the Micron 3610 NVMe SSD have been positive, with PCMark 10 scores increasing by up to 30% and 3DMark results rising by approximately 20%.

Performance per watt reportedly improves 10% compared to Gen4 QLC and 43% versus Gen4 TLC, gains which are achieved without additional power draw, suggesting that the drive may improve system responsiveness for mainstream computing workloads.

Despite its benchmark improvements, the 3610’s use of QLC NAND and a DRAM-less architecture may limit sustained performance under heavy workloads.

This makes alternative Gen5 TLC drives potentially more suitable for users requiring consistent high performance during prolonged operations.

"The 3610 SSD combines cutting-edge PCIe Gen 5 technology, Micron's most-advanced G9 QLC NAND and a sleek, single-sided design to deliver premium performance, capacity and power efficiency," said Mark Montierth, senior vice president and general manager of Micron's Mobile and Client Business Unit.

"The 3610 will enable ultra-thin devices that meet the growing demands of on-device AI, immersive streaming and performance-intensive workloads."

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI. You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!