Illumina Unveils Q70 Quality, 30% Faster Speed and 40% More Output on NovaSeq X
Illumina detailed an 18-month roadmap for NovaSeq X featuring Q70 quality score, 30% faster runtimes and 40% higher output to 35 billion reads. New flow cells, staggered starts and DRAGEN software upgrades will roll out across 8,901 global units, driving oncology and rare disease research.
1. Roadmap Overview
Illumina revealed an 18-month roadmap for the NovaSeq X system, focusing on simultaneous improvements in data quality, output, speed and workflow flexibility to advance high-throughput sequencing.
2. Key Technical Enhancements
The roadmap introduces Q70 quality score technology, increases system output from 25 billion to 35 billion reads (40%), speeds 14 billion-read runs by 30% to 20–22 hours, adds 1.5 billion and 5 billion flow cells, enables staggered starts and upgrades DRAGEN pipelines.
3. Customer Impact and Applications
These updates will enhance all 8,901 installed NovaSeq X units worldwide, expanding capacity for oncology research, rare disease diagnosis, molecular residual disease testing and multiomic studies while reducing per-sample costs.
4. Rollout Plan
New flow cells, asynchronous run capabilities and software enhancements will deploy to customer instruments in the coming weeks, with full rollout of all roadmap updates completed over the next 18 months.