Technology

A 1TB microSD Express card costs 4x more than a 1TB microSD card but is also 10x faster so go for it if you want speed over VFM

April 8, 2025

Lexar Play Pro microSDXC Express card enables faster downloads and game load times
Backward-compatible with UHS devices but limited to slower speeds
Nintendo Switch 2 supports microSD Express, boosting industry-wide adoption hopes

Arriving just in time for the imminent launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, Lexar has introduced the world’s first 1TB microSD Express card, one of the largest and fastest microSD cards currently on the market.

The Lexar PLAY PRO microSDXC Express offers read speeds of up to 900MB/s and write speeds of up to 600MB/s, making it well-suited for demanding tasks such as accelerated downloads, high-speed data transfers, and faster game loading times.

The card uses a combination of PCI Express 3.0 and NVMe 1.3 interfaces – similar to those found in the best SSDs. This significantly reduces latency and boosts data transfer speeds, delivering up to 10 times the performance of standard microSD cards.

However, microSD Express cards are currently only compatible with a limited number of devices, which has so far restricted wider adoption. With the recently-announced Switch 2 reportedly using this standard exclusively, the industry is optimistic that microSD Express will become more widely supported in future portable devices.

Can I use this card on regular microSD slots?

The Lexar PLAY PRO microSDXC Express card is backward-compatible with UHS-I and UHS-II host devices, meaning it can still be used in older hardware. However, in such cases, performance will be capped at UHS-I speeds – which is typically around 100MB/s read speed.

The new card comes with a limited lifetime warranty, as well as the Lexar Recovery Tool, which allows users to restore formatted or accidentally deleted files.

“The new microSD Express standard offers us a way to deliver a memory card with incomparable performance in that form factor,” said Joey Lopez, Director of Brand Marketing at Lexar.

“We’re excited to create a card for our customers that leverages the benefits of this new standard and prepares gamers for the next generation of handheld gaming.”

The Lexar microSD Express card is priced at $199.99 for the 1TB version, $99.99 for the 512GB model, and $49.99 for the 256GB variant.

Via TechPowerUp

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