Here’s Why the Nintendo Switch 2’s MicroSD Express Support Might Strain Your Budget

With the grand unveiling of the Nintendo Switch 2, some intriguing technical insights have come to light. One of the standout details is the new console’s requirement for a different type of MicroSD card—specifically, the MicroSD Express. If early pricing trends are anything to go by, these cards could put a significant dent in your savings. They’re noticeably more expensive, on a per-gigabyte basis, compared to many modern SSDs. While SSDs can be found for as little as 5 to 6 cents per GB, MicroSD Express cards are set to cost 20 to 25 cents per GB. This price disparity is partly due to their advanced specs, like NVMe and PCIe 3.0 compatibility, features they share with M.2 SSDs.

Let’s delve into some examples: Sandisk has priced their 128GB MicroSD Express card at $49.99, while the 256GB version comes in at $64.99. These cards are designed for performance, boasting read speeds of 880 MB/s, write speeds of 480 MB/s, and sustained write speeds of 100 MB/s.

On the other hand, Lexar isn’t pulling any punches either, offering cards upwards of 1TB. Yet, brace yourself—these high capacities come at a hefty price. The Lexar Play Pro 1TB card, for instance, is priced at an eye-watering $199.99. Meanwhile, their 512GB variant is $99.99, and the 256GB model costs $49.99. Lexar promises impressive performance with their cards, advertising read and write speeds of 900 MB/s and 600 MB/s respectively.

Sandisk’s pricing structure puts their 128GB card at $0.39 per gigabyte, while the 256GB lands at $0.25 per gigabyte. In contrast, Lexar’s lineup offers a more consistent pricing model at $0.20 per gigabyte across all capacities, coupled with an apparent edge in performance specs.

Now, more than ever, storage is a critical concern for the Switch 2. While it ships with a standard 256GB of internal storage, there’s a catch. Even with physical game purchases, full downloads and installations onto the system may still be necessary. These cartridges essentially act as “Game-Key Cards” — a fancy term for license keys, as developers and publishers grapple with rising NAND storage costs to save on cartridge expenses.

Take, for example, the process of installing a game like Street Fighter 6. You’d need to offload a hefty 50GB onto the console from the get-go. With that, the default 256GB will fill up swiftly, nudging users towards investing in these pricey MicroSD cards to sidestep the tedious task of juggling downloads and storage every time a new Game-Key Card is slotted in.

Diving a bit deeper into the specifics of the Switch 2’s MicroSD Express standard, the differences might not be visually apparent, but technically, they are significant. The upgrade from the UHS-I standard used in the original Nintendo Switch to MicroSD Express represents a leap forward. This new standard divides into four speed classes—Class 150, Class 300, Class 450, and Class 600. These numbers indicate the minimum read and write speeds in MB/s required by each class. Furthermore, MicroSD Express cards feature more pins—up to 17, compared to the eight of UHS-I cards.

The underlying technology comprises NVMe and PCIe 3.0 interfaces, potentially enabling speeds as high as 2GB/s (with PCIe 4.0). However, it’s still unclear if the Switch 2 can deliver those speeds, as no available MicroSD Express card has reached these theoretical maxima.

According to Joey Lopez, Lexar’s Director of Brand Marketing, “The new microSD Express standard is a game-changer, promising unparalleled performance for a memory card in this format.” While the fastest announced card so far is Lexar’s Play Pro MicroSDXC Express, its true capabilities won’t be fully understood until we get our hands on both the Switch 2 and these MicroSD Express cards. If you’re eager to know more, our hands-on experiences with the Nintendo Switch 2 are a great place to start.