When Nintendo first unveiled the Switch 2, it came with a surprise: to expand its storage, players would need to use microSD Express cards. This move caught everyone off guard, and almost immediately, these cards flew off the shelves, both online and in brick-and-mortar stores. In fact, at Hermitage Akihabara in Japan, store employees were reportedly selling over 337 cards every hour, regardless of the fact that microSD Express cards are much pricier than their standard counterparts.
A Costly Upgrade
For instance, if you take a look at the Lexar 1TB Play microSD card, it typically goes for $129.99 on Amazon, but there’s often a discount available, bringing it down to $69.99. This card offers decent performance, with read speeds reaching 160 MB/s and write speeds hitting 100 MB/s, which, while efficient, doesn’t match up to the speeds of onboard device storage. In contrast, the microSD Express variant of this card significantly ups the ante, boasting a read speed of 900 MB/s and a write speed of 600 MB/s. This enhanced speed does come with a heftier price tag. The Lexar 1TB Play Pro microSD Express card originally retails for $199.99, but even with a discount to $172.63, it’s noticeably more expensive than the regular version.
No Signs of Scalping
Yet, despite the extra cost for Switch 2 owners, sales of these microSD Express cards were brisk post-announcement. Interestingly, it looks like scalpers didn’t get in on the action here. Reports indicate up to 80% of buyers purchased just a single card, with the maximum any individual grabbing being three. This trend suggests most buyers are simply regular players preparing for the Switch 2 and its storage needs.
While microSD Express tech has been available since 2019, its adoption has lagged due to higher costs compared to standard microSD cards and larger SSDs. Other gaming consoles allow internal memory expansion by swapping out the SSD, which isn’t as straightforward—requiring users to remove the backplate and adjust some settings.
Nintendo isn’t particularly fond of its users altering console hardware, so for the Switch 2, the user-friendly and performance-driven solution is microSD Express cards. As the console gears up to support new, high-demand AAA games, its 256 GB internal storage might quickly fill up. Using these cards ensures gamers can store all their beloved titles and access them anytime they want on the Switch 2.
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