Samsung begins sampling 256GB SD Express microSD card

Samsung Electronics has started sampling its high-performance 256GB SD Express microSD card boasting a sequential read speed of up to 800 megabytes per second (MB/s). The South Korean tech giant has also commenced mass production of its 1TB UHS-1 microSD card.

The next-generation microSD card line-up will provide differentiated memory solutions required for the new era of mobile computing and on-device AI applications.

Samsung's 256GB SD Express microSD card will be available for purchase later this year while the 1TB UHS-1 microSD card is slated to launch within the third quarter of 2024.

Samsung's SD Express microSD card offers performance equivalent to SSDs in a small form factor. Traditional microSD cards using the UHS-1 interface typically have limited read speeds of 104MB/s, but the new SD Express microSD card can boost it up to 985MB/s. However, commercial availability of the latter was not viable until now.

The sequential read speed offered by Samsung's SD Express microSD card is 1.4 times faster than SATA SSDs (up to 560 MB/s) and more than four times faster compared to traditional UHS-1 memory cards (up to 200 MB/s). Additionally, the Dynamic Thermal Guard (DTG) technology maintains the optimum temperature for the SD Express microSD card even during long usage sessions, ensuring stable performance and reliability for the small form factor.

On the other hand, Samsung's new 1TB microSD card stacks eight layers of the in-house 8th generation 1-terabit (Tb) V-NAND within a microSD form factor to realize the high-capacity package that was possible only in SSDs. It offers reliable usage even in challenging environments, with features such as water protection, extreme temperature, drop-proof design, wear-out protection, as well as X-ray and magnetic protection, according to Samsung.

"Despite their tiny size, these memory cards deliver powerful SSD-like performance and capacity to help users get more out of demanding modern and future applications," stated Hangu Sohn, Vice President of the Memory Brand Product Biz Team at Samsung Electronics.