What a memory IC code actually tells you
Every smartphone board carries one chip that holds the operating system and the user's data. The string laser-etched across the top of it is a manufacturer part number, and that part number is a complete specification — capacity, interface, speed grade, ball count — compressed into a dozen or so characters.
The compression is the problem. KMQD60013M-B318 means a 32GB eMMC with 2GB
of LPDDR3 stacked on top, but nothing in the string says "32GB" in a form you can read
at a glance. Each manufacturer encodes capacity differently, the schemes change between
generations, and the codes that matter most in repair work are often the ones that look
most alike. A checker exists because memorising several thousand of these is not a
reasonable thing to ask of anyone.
Why the code beats every other way of checking
The obvious ways to read a phone's storage all need a working phone. Settings needs Android to boot. Dialler codes need a dialler. A box or a dongle needs the board to respond on a data line. The marking on the chip needs none of that — it is legible on a board that is dead, wiped, bootlooping, water-damaged or sitting loose in a tray of spares.
That is why the code is the reference point in the parts trade. When a lot of scrap boards is priced as 128GB and half of them turn out to be 32GB, the difference comes straight out of somebody's margin. Reading the chip is the only check that works before money changes hands.
Reading the marking without getting it wrong
- Take the first line. On almost every package the top line is the part number and everything under it is lot, date and origin. Searching a lot code returns nothing, which is the single most common reason a lookup fails.
- Light it from the side. Laser etching has no contrast of its own. A light held low across the package throws the characters into relief; light from directly above washes them out.
- Watch the ambiguous glyphs.
0andO,1andI,5andS,8andB. If a code returns nothing, re-reading these characters fixes it more often than not. - A partial code is still useful. Type what you can read. The checker matches on prefix, so six or seven good characters usually narrow it to a handful of candidates you can tell apart by package.
- Micron marks twice. Micron's FBGA code is a short five-character string that is not the full part number. Both forms are in this catalogue, so either one will resolve.
Storage-only parts and stacked parts
Roughly half of this catalogue is eMCP and uMCP — multi-chip packages that put LPDDR RAM in the same physical part as the storage. On those the checker returns two figures, and both matter: a replacement has to match the RAM as well as the storage or the board will not train memory at boot.
eMMC and UFS parts carry storage alone. UFS is the newer serial interface found on mid-range and flagship boards; eMMC is the older parallel one still used across budget hardware. They are not interchangeable — the ball-out is different — so the chip type in a result is as important as the capacity.
Who uses this
Board-level repair technicians confirming a part before ordering a replacement. Buyers pricing dead phones and scrap boards by real capacity rather than by the seller's word. Refurbishers sorting stock into capacity bins. Anyone who has been burned once by a board that was labelled 128GB and was not.
Start with the checker at the top of this page, or work through the mobile IC code list if you would rather browse by capacity or manufacturer.