After the grand unveiling of the Nintendo Switch 2, we’ve gathered some intriguing technical insights about the console. One of the standout features is its requirement for a new kind of MicroSD card called MicroSD Express, distinct from what the original Switch used. Unfortunately, this upgrade might hit your wallet hard. Currently, the pricing of these cards is eye-watering when compared to modern SSDs. While MicroSD Express cards will set you back 20 to 25 cents per gigabyte, some cheaper solid-state drives only cost around 5 to 6 cents per gigabyte. This cost hike is mainly because MicroSD Express cards incorporate NVMe and PCIe 3.0 technology—what you’d typically find in M.2 SSDs.
Let’s look at Sandisk’s offerings: their MicroSD Express cards are priced at $49.99 for 128GB and $64.99 for the 256GB version. They promise speeds up to 880 MB/s for reading, 480 MB/s for writing, and maintain a sustained write speed of 100 MB/s.
On the other hand, Lexar launched a series of cards with capacities soaring up to 1TB. But, brace yourself for these prices—they’re steep as expected for the next-gen tech.
Take, for instance, Lexar’s Play Pro 1TB MicroSD Express card; it’s a hefty $199.99. The 512 GB version costs $99.99, and 256 GB comes in at $49.99. Lexar claims these cards can reach read speeds of up to 900 MB/s and write speeds up to 600 MB/s.
Comparing prices, Sandisk’s MicroSD Express pricing tops out at $0.39 per gigabyte for the 128GB model and $0.25 per gigabyte for the 256GB option. Lexar seems to provide a better deal with all storage variants priced at a flat rate of $0.20 per gigabyte, coupled with seemingly superior specs.
Understanding why storage is more crucial than ever with the Switch 2 is important. Although the console will come with 256GB of storage, there’s a caveat. To play certain physical games, you’ll still have to download and install the full game onto the system. Nintendo’s “Game-Key Card” effectively turns cartridges into mere physical licenses. This shift likely stems from publishers aiming to cut down costs on cartridges, especially with NAND storage prices on the rise.
For instance, if you buy a game like Street Fighter 6 on a cartridge, you’ll need to install an additional 50GB of data. Consequently, the standard 256GB storage will fill up rather quickly. This means you might find yourself paying extra for those snazzy MicroSD cards unless you want the headache of constantly managing and redownloading titles each time you switch games.
Now let’s talk a bit about what MicroSD Express is all about. On the surface, these cards might look just like any other MicroSD, but technically, they are leaps and bounds ahead of the Switch’s previous UHS-I standard.
The SD Association classifies MicroSD Express into four speed classes: 150, 300, 450, and 600, indicating minimum read/write performance in MB/s. These new cards are packed with more pins—16 or 17, compared to the eight found on UHS-I cards. The technology underneath features NVMe and PCIe 3.0 interfaces, which theoretically push speeds up to 2GB/s with PCIe 4.0.
While we anticipate that the Switch 2 could reach impressive speeds, technical specs are still scant. No MicroSD Express card has hit those theoretical speeds yet, either.
Joey Lopez, Lexar’s Director of Brand Marketing, captures the enthusiasm around this new tech, noting that the MicroSD Express standard marks a massive leap in performance for memory cards. He stressed that Lexar is thrilled to offer gamers a card designed to handle the demands of future handheld gaming.
Right now, there’s a significant gap between the top-performing UHS-I MicroSD card and the new MicroSD Express cards. Lexar’s Play Pro MicroSDXC Express is considered the fastest announced so far, but real-world speeds will only be confirmed once the Switch 2 and these new cards are widely available. In the meantime, you can catch our first impressions of the Nintendo Switch 2.
