NAND Flash MLC to Conquer SSD

There are 2 main type of NAND flash memory.
The SLC for Single Level Cell is the fastest one, and is currently used in SSD.
The MLC for Multi level Cell is not as fast, however it can offer the highest density, and is commonly used in large capacity USB key. For obvious performance reasons, SSD are currently exclusively based on SLC NAND flash, but it might change in a near future.
Indeed, STEC Inc announced to have developed a SSD-dedicated controller specifically designed for the use of MLC. Despite its native lower speed, STEC claims to have reached 90MB/s in reading and 60MB/s in writing mode.
The high density level allowed by the MLC should open the door of large capacity SSD with 1.8" to 2.5" format, such as 512GB in a 15mm SSD, or 256GB for a 9.5mm SDD (HD thickness currently used in MacBook).
Samsung should unveil in a near future its SSD based on a mix of MLC and SLC. One can expect in such drive that SLC will be used as a huge cash memory while MLC will allow larger storage space.
As illustrated with both news, the SSD market is quickly evolving towards the best compromise between price/performance/storage capacity.