MicroSD Express: Essential for Nintendo Switch 2

Last week, Nintendo unveiled the highly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2, and with it came the news that the console exclusively supports expansion through MicroSD Express cards. This shift might be frustrating for those with existing MicroSD collections, but it's a smart move given the superior speed of MicroSD Express technology.

MicroSD Express cards interface with devices in a way that allows them to achieve read/write speeds comparable to the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) used in the Switch 2's internal storage. This is crucial as it theoretically enables games on the expansion card to load as quickly as those stored internally, albeit at the expense of compatibility with slower, less expensive non-Express MicroSD cards.

MicroSD vs. MicroSD Express

Over the years, MicroSD cards have evolved through six different speed ratings. Starting with a mere 12.5MB/s with the original SD cards, speeds have progressively increased, reaching 312MB/s with the SD UHS III standard. However, the introduction of the SD Express standard five years ago marked a significant leap in performance.

The key advancement with SD Express is the adoption of a PCIe 3.1 interface, a stark contrast to the slower UHS-I interface used previously. This PCIe interface is the same one utilized by high-speed NVMe SSDs, unlocking substantially higher performance potential. Full-sized SD Express cards can now achieve data transfer speeds up to 3,940MB/s, dwarfing the capabilities of older SD cards.

Although MicroSD Express cards don't reach the peak speeds of their full-sized counterparts, they still offer impressive performance, with speeds up to 985MB/s—three times faster than the fastest non-Express MicroSD cards.

Why Does the Switch 2 Require MicroSD Express?

While Nintendo typically keeps its hardware decision-making under wraps, there are compelling reasons for the Switch 2's requirement of MicroSD Express cards. The most significant factor is speed. Games installed on a MicroSD Express card will load much faster than those on a traditional UHS-I MicroSD card, thanks to the PCIe 3.1 interface. This could signal a trend that handheld gaming PCs might follow.

With the Switch 2's internal storage upgraded to UFS from eMMC, it's logical for Nintendo to mandate expansion storage with similar speeds. Early demos suggest significant load time improvements, with fast travel in games like Breath of the Wild reduced by 35% (according to Polygon) and initial load times improved by a factor of three (as reported by Digital Foundry). These enhancements may be due to the faster internal storage, CPU, and GPU, but the need for external storage to match these speeds is clear to prevent bottlenecks in future games.

Moreover, this requirement paves the way for even faster storage solutions in the future. The current fastest SD card standard, SD 8.0 Specification, supports full-size SD Express cards reaching speeds up to 3,942MB/s. Although MicroSD Express cards aren't there yet, future advancements could see them catching up, especially if the Switch 2 is designed to handle such speeds.

MicroSD Express Capacity Options

The adoption of MicroSD Express cards has been slow, but the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to change that. Currently, options are limited. Lexar offers a single MicroSD Express card in capacities of 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB, with the 1TB variant priced at $199.

Lexar Play Pro MicroSD Express

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SanDisk, on the other hand, has only one MicroSD Express card available, topping out at 256GB, which matches the internal storage of the Switch 2. By the time the Switch 2 hits the market, it's unlikely that many MicroSD Express cards will exceed 512GB in capacity. However, as demand grows, companies like Samsung are likely to introduce higher-capacity options.

SanDisk MicroSD Express 256GB

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