Samsung has just unveiled a new generation of microSD cards that support the SD Express standard and enable lightning-fast performance.
In the official announcement post, the company states that it has begun sampling testing for the 256GB model, which they claim will have a maximum read speed of 800MB per second. To put that into perspective, our pick for the best SD card for 2024 is the Transcend SDXC UHS-II U3 and it only has a top speed of 285MB per second. Samsung is trying to outdo even the best SATA SSDs, as these drives peak at 560MB.
There is also a 1TB UHS-1 model in the works. It’s currently starting mass production, although the post doesn’t say what the read speed will be. Instead, Samsung decided to focus on the card’s durability. The 1TB version is designed to withstand ‘challenging environments’, with features that include protection against water, resistance to extreme temperatures and apparently X-rays.
The perfect time
The inclusion of SD Express is especially notable because the standard does has existed since 2018 although no brand has taken advantage of the technology all along. This has two reasons.
First, there simply aren’t many devices that can take advantage of the speed. And second, SD Express cards get extremely hot. They can hit temperatures up to 96 degrees Celsius (or around 204 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s almost the boiling point of water. To beat the heat, Samsung is equipping their upcoming product with Dynamic Thermal Guard to ensure everything runs at an optimal temperature, “even during long usage sessions.”
The 256GB SD Express microSD card will launch sometime this year. An exact date was not given. The 1TB UHS-1 microSD card will have a more specific window, as it will be released in Q3 2024. We’ve reached out to Samsung for more details. This story will be updated at a later date.
Analysis: Ready for the future
You may be thinking, “Why now?” Does Samsung believe it’s finally time to implement SD Express? It turns out: yes. The company says these maps will be the “solutions needed for tomorrow’s AI applications on devices.” AI features such as chatbots rely on cloud servers for storage and function. They cannot be placed in a smartphone. However, several companies, including Samsung, are working on “AI phones,” mobile devices that could include artificial intelligence models.
Imagine being able to talk to something like ChatGPT without needing constant access to the cloud. It is very possible. The tech giant has certainly been proactive in promoting its AI technology to users. But there’s one use case not mentioned in other reports: video games.
a Reddit user on the GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit states that the rumored Nintendo Switch 2 will struggle with “storage expansion because current SD cards are far too slow and NVMe SSDs” are too large. Samsung’s SD Express models are the perfect solution. They are small, fast, have a lot of space and have ‘controllable thermals’.
Granted, this is all pure speculation. There’s no evidence for this or even a hint, but it’s fun to think about. What is intended to have just one use case may actually have multiple applications.
Speaking of storage, check out Ny Breaking’s list of the best external hard drives for 2024.