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Title: The best microSD cards for the Nintendo Switch 2

Date: Thu, 29 May 2025 16:00:52 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-...

The Nintendo Switch 2 comes with 256GB of built-in storage, eight times more
than the original Switch and four times more than the Switch OLED. But the
new consoleΓÇÖs improved performance means that some games will hog a ton of
that space: Cyberpunk 2077 is a 60GB download, for one, while Split Fiction
checks in at 73GB. Other titles arenΓÇÖt nearly as big, but chances are
youΓÇÖll eventually want to add more room to the device.

When you do, youΓÇÖll need a microSD Express card. These are not the same as
the standard microSD cards you may have bought for the first Switch or other
gaming handhelds ΓÇö theyΓÇÖre newer, faster and significantly more
expensive. But if you want more space, theyΓÇÖre your only choice. If
youΓÇÖre looking to grab one today, weΓÇÖve laid out the best microSD cards
for the Switch 2 and broken down what you should know before you buy.

The best microSD cards for the Switch 2 (and why you might want to wait to
buy) The SanDisk microSD Express Card and Lexar Play Pro.Jeff Dunn for
Engadget

The Switch 2 is the first mainstream device to require microSD Express for
storage expansion, so there arenΓÇÖt many options available to buy just yet.
To make things easy, hereΓÇÖs a list of every microSD Express card weΓÇÖve
seen at retailers at the time of writing:

128GB

SanDisk microSD Express Card ($56 MSRP)

PNY microSD Express Card ($47 MSRP)

256GB

Samsung microSD Express Card for Nintendo Switch 2 ($60 MSRP)

SanDisk microSD Express Card ($75 MSRP)

Lexar Play Pro ($50 MSRP)

PNY microSD Express Card ($59 MSRP)

GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2 ($60 MSRP)

Onn microSD Express Card ($36 MSRP)

512GB

Lexar Play Pro ($100 MSRP)

GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2 ($100 MSRP)

Onn microSD Express Card ($66 MSRP)

1TB

Lexar Play Pro ($200 MSRP)

GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2 ($190 MSRP)

Remember: YouΓÇÖre looking for microSD Express, not ΓÇ£Extreme,ΓÇ¥ a la the
branding SanDisk uses for some of its conventional microSD cards. A microSD
Express card will have a big ΓÇ£EXΓÇ¥ logo printed on it ΓÇö if you see that,
you should be good to go.

Nintendo says the Switch 2 technically supports cards with a capacity up to
2TB, but we havenΓÇÖt seen any microSD Express model go beyond 1TB just yet.
ItΓÇÖs also worth noting that GameStop and Onn (WalmartΓÇÖs in-house
electronics brand) arenΓÇÖt manufacturers, so itΓÇÖs unclear who exactly is
making their cards.

Currently, stock for each of these cards has been extremely spotty.
SanDiskΓÇÖs microSD Express Card has also increased in price since it first
went up for sale in February; originally, it cost $45 for 128GB and $60 for
256GB. Either way, all of these cards are far pricier than traditional
microSD options. The Samsung Pro Plus, for example, costs $17 for 128GB, $25
for 256GB, $43 for 512GB and $90 for 1TB as of this writing.

All microSD Express cards will have this "EX" logo printed on
them.Nintendo/Engadget

WeΓÇÖve already tested SanDiskΓÇÖs Express card and the Lexar Play Pro for
our broader guide to the best microSD cards. Between the two, SanDiskΓÇÖs
card has much faster sequential read speeds ΓÇö up to 899 MB/s vs. 712 MB/s
in CrystalDiskMark, to name one benchmark ΓÇö which theoretically makes it
better equipped to reduce load times.

The Play Pro is quicker for sequential writes (up to 720 MB/s vs. 650 MB/s),
available in more sizes and should be cheaper at 256GB whenever itΓÇÖs in
stock. (SanDisk says the 128GB version of its card has slower sequential
writes than the 256GB model, too.) Random performance is about equal, so the
two should be similarly adept at keeping large games like Mario Kart World
running smoothly.

We mainly tested those cards on a Windows PC and Mac, though. How they
perform on the actual Switch 2 remains to be seen. WeΓÇÖll test as many
options as we can once we have our hands on the console, but for now we
canΓÇÖt say if itΓÇÖll render all microSD Express cards to similar speeds.
That was largely the case with the first Switch: Once a (regular) microSD
card hit a certain threshold of performance, there wasnΓÇÖt that much
practical difference between it and other alternatives. The Switch 2 is
working with a different standard, but if something similar were to happen
again, the ΓÇ£bestΓÇ¥ microSD Express card would simply be the most
affordable one from a reputable brand in the capacity you want.

That brings us to our main piece of advice: If you can hold off on buying one
of these things early on, thatΓÇÖs probably a good idea. ItΓÇÖs not just
about the lack of testing ΓÇö truthfully, weΓÇÖd be surprised if any of the
cards above were truly ΓÇ£bad.ΓÇ¥ It comes down to value: Barring more tariff
shenanigans, all of these cards are as expensive today as theyΓÇÖre ever
likely to get. The Switch 2 is already popular and will continue to be, thus
more microSD Express cards will need to be made and prices will (eventually)
come down. Try to use all 256 of the gigabytes baked into the Switch 2 first,
even if it means having to delete a game or two. But if youΓÇÖre absolutely
sure you want more space right away, the cards above should be good enough.

What are microSD Express cards? A microSD Express card like the one on the
right has a second row of pins on the back.Jeff Dunn for Engadget

Most microSD cards are based on a standard called Ultra High Speed (UHS), of
which there are three versions: UHS-I, UHS-II and UHS-III. The vast majority
of cards you may have bought in the past utilize UHS-I. These have one row of
pins in the back and a theoretical maximum data transfer speed of 104
megabytes per second (MB/s). (Though many cards are able to surpass that
limit with proprietary tech and card readers.) The original Switch has a UHS-
I microSD slot, as do most other gaming handhelds like ValveΓÇÖs Steam Deck.

UHS-II cards add a second row of pins and can reach up to 312 MB/s. These are
pricier and much less common than cards based on UHS-I, but theyΓÇÖre
supported by some cameras and higher-power handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally
X. UHS-III, meanwhile, is twice as fast as UHS-II in theory (624 MB/s), but
no microSD cards have actually used it.

UHS-I cards have held on over the years because theyΓÇÖre cheap, widely
supported and fast enough for the things most people need them to do: record
4K video, stash photos and so on. But with the Switch 2, Nintendo needs more.
The new console is dramatically more powerful, which allows it to run
demanding games that may have originally been built for stronger hardware
like the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X or gaming PCs. The device also uses UFS
3.1 storage internally, which is much speedier than the eMMC storage used by
the original Switch. (A custom file decompression engine should help improve
load times as well.) So if the Switch 2 is going to accept microSD cards, it
needs ones that wonΓÇÖt bring a serious drop-off in performance and can hold
up with modern games.

The Nintendo Switch 2.Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Hence, SD Express. This standard has technically been around since 2018 but
mostly went nowhere until the Switch 2 came along. It also uses a second row
of pins, but it lets microSD cards take advantage of the PCI Express
(PCIe)/NVMe interface, which is the same underlying tech used by modern SSDs.
As a result, it can produce considerably faster read and write speeds, with a
current theoretical maximum of 985 MB/s.

As noted above, real-world performance wonΓÇÖt be quite that fast. Even if it
was, the best microSD Express cards would still be much slower than the NVMe
SSDs used by the PS5 and Xbox. (Sony recommends SSDs with sequential read
speeds of at least 5,500 MB/s.) And theyΓÇÖll fall well below their peak
speeds under sustained loads: SanDisk, for instance, says sustained write
speeds for its 128GB Express card can drop as low as 100 MB/s.

But theyΓÇÖre still a marked improvement over old UHS-I cards, and in theory,
they should be quicker than some older SATA-based SSDs when it comes loading
game levels, asset streaming, retrieving saves or copying games to external
storage. Whereas SanDiskΓÇÖs microSD Express card can produce sequential read
speeds around 900 MB/s, LexarΓÇÖs Professional Silver Plus ΓÇö the top UHS-I
pick in our general microSD card guide ΓÇö topped out just over 200 MB/s, and
thatΓÇÖs with a proprietary reader. (On the first Switch, itΓÇÖd be closer to
100 MB/s.) Sequential writes and random speeds were three to four times
better as well, and sometimes even more depending on the benchmark we used.

It remains to be seen how well these Express cards will hold up with extended
use, and thereΓÇÖs no way to know exactly when their sky-high prices will
drop. Non-Switch 2 devices that support microSD Express are still exceedingly
rare, and the standard itself isnΓÇÖt backwards compatible with UHS-II, so
youΓÇÖll be limited to UHS-I speeds if you want to use your card with another
device (unless you buy a pricey external reader). Still, while the increased
costs and limited selection are annoying, the tech itself seems worthy of a
next-gen Switch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/the-...
nintendo-switch-2-160052535.html?src=rss

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