I received my Nintendo Swap 2, and my inside storage is already filling up with all my outdated video games and saves! In case you’re in the identical boat, you’ll have additionally seen you possibly can’t simply jam within the SD card out of your unique Swap and maintain rocking. As an alternative, you will want a brand new microSD Categorical card.
This Categorical commonplace was launched in late 2023, and it permits write speeds within the a whole bunch of megabytes, however till now the playing cards themselves had been as uncommon as any gadgets that used the usual. Because of this, the playing cards are few and much between, and so they carry a big value premium over the extra widespread microSD playing cards. Earlier than I get too caught up within the value and availability although, let’s simply go over what the distinction is between Categorical and commonplace microSD playing cards and what it means to your Swap 2.
Up to date July 2025: We have clarified particulars concerning the launch and utilization of microSD Categorical, added hands-on testing with Samsung’s Nintendo-branded providing, and added speed-based benchmarks to complement the sensible testing.
Categorical Lane
{Photograph}: Brad Bourque
As you might need guessed from the title, microSD Categorical playing cards are quicker, however to grasp precisely what which means, we have to break down what we imply by pace and the way it’s measured and displayed on microSD playing cards.
Regular, non-express playing cards use three metrics with some overlap in efficiency. We have an in-depth technical information if you wish to know extra concerning the non-express playing cards, however I will give the quick model right here. There are three ranges: Velocity Class, denoted with a C, UHS Velocity Class, as marked by a U for Extremely Excessive Velocity Class, and Video Velocity Class, with a V.
No matter the way it’s displayed, the quantity signifies that the cardboard is ready to learn and write at the very least that quick. For the Circle and the V, it’s a direct comparability, so a circle with a “10” in it has a 10MB/s sustained write pace. There are two U variants, 1 and three, which correspond to 10MB/s and 30MB/s respectively. Playing cards are nearly all the time appropriate with slower gadgets, so you may even see a number of symbols and numbers on every card.
The indicator for Categorical playing cards is, maybe unsurprisingly, a stylized EX or E, generally with a quantity subsequent to it. As soon as once more, this represents the cardboard’s sustained write pace, with formally supported ranges from 150MB/s as much as 600MB/s. Do not forget that these are minimal speeds, so you may even see producers quote even larger numbers, however whether or not you’ll help these speeds will rely on the system studying and writing to the cardboard.
