What Is MicroSD Express? Everything You Need to Know Leave a comment

I acquired my Nintendo Change 2, and my inside storage is already filling up with all my outdated video games and saves! For those who’re in the identical boat, you will have additionally observed you’ll be able to’t simply jam within the SD card out of your authentic Change and preserve rocking. As an alternative, you will want a brand new microSD Categorical card.

This Categorical normal was launched in late 2023, and it permits write speeds within the a whole bunch of megabytes, however till now the playing cards themselves had been as uncommon as any units that used the usual. Because of this, the playing cards are few and much between, they usually carry a big worth premium over the extra widespread microSD playing cards. Earlier than I get too caught up within the worth and availability although, let’s simply go over what the distinction is between Categorical and normal microSD playing cards and what it means in your Change 2.

Up to date July 2025: We have clarified particulars concerning the launch and utilization of microSD Categorical, added hands-on testing with Samsung’s Nintendo-branded providing, and added speed-based benchmarks to complement the sensible testing.

Categorical Lane

As you may need guessed from the identify, microSD Categorical playing cards are sooner, however to grasp precisely what which means, we have to break down what we imply by pace and the way it’s measured and displayed on microSD playing cards.

Regular, non-express playing cards use three metrics with some overlap in efficiency. We have got an in-depth technical information if you wish to know extra concerning the non-express playing cards, however I am going to give the brief model right here. There are three ranges: Pace Class, denoted with a C, UHS Pace Class, as marked by a U for Extremely Excessive Pace Class, and Video Pace Class, with a V.

No matter the way it’s displayed, the quantity signifies that the cardboard is ready to learn and write no less than that quick. For the Circle and the V, it’s a direct comparability, so a circle with a “10” in it has a 10MB/s sustained write pace. There are two U variants, 1 and three, which correspond to 10MB/s and 30MB/s respectively. Playing cards are nearly all the time appropriate with slower units, so you might even see a number of symbols and numbers on every card.

The indicator for Categorical playing cards is, maybe unsurprisingly, a stylized EX or E, typically with a quantity subsequent to it. As soon as once more, this represents the cardboard’s sustained write pace, with formally supported ranges from 150MB/s as much as 600MB/s. Keep in mind that these are minimal speeds, so you might even see producers quote even greater numbers, however whether or not you’ll help these speeds will depend upon the system studying and writing to the cardboard.