If, for some reason, you need absolutely loads of storage on your smartphone or tablet, then you’ll be pleased to know that two microSD cards have been announced at MWC 2019 with 1TB of storage – making them the highest capacity microSD cards in the world.
Micron’s c200 1TB microSDXC UHS-I card comes with a 96-layer 3D quad-level cell (QLC) and NAND technology to bring such a large capacity to a small memory card. According to Micron, this card has been designed specifically for high-performance mobile applications, and is certified for the A2 App Performance Class specification.
This means it will perform better at running applications and games that are installed on card. It has read speeds of 100MB/s and write speeds of 95MB/s. It will be available in the second quarter of 2019, but we don’t currently have an exact release date or price for the memory card.
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The competition
Micron’s claim to the world’s first 1TB microSD card was short-lived, however, with Western Digital announcing its own 1TB UHS-I microSD flash memory card, the 1TB SanDisk Extreme UHS-I microSDXC, which the company claims is the world’s fastest 1TB microSD card.
Considering the competition is so slim, that claim isn’t hard to verify, and on paper at least it seems Western Digital has the performance edge over the Micron, with read speeds of up to 160MB/s, which Western Digital claims allows you to transfer 1,000 high resolution photos and 30 minutes of 4K video in less than three minutes.
Write speeds, however, are slightly slower than Micron’s card, at 90MB/s. As with Micron’s card, the SanDisk microSD card meets the A2 App Performance Class specification.
If you’re worried that this kind of high capacity won’t come cheap, then you’d be right, with the 1TB SanDisk Extreme UHS-I microSDXC costing $449.99 (around £340, AU$630) when it hits shops in April.
While both of these cards are aimed at drastically expanding the storage space of smartphones (those which still have microSD slots, that its), the high capacity and fast transfer rates will make these cards very attractive to photographers as well.
Plus, if you own a Nintendo Switch console, you’ll be able to store plenty of downloadable games if you slot one of these cards into it. However, at around the cost of the entire games console, some people may find these 1TB microSD cards a little too expensive.
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MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world's largest showcase for the mobile industry, stuffed full of the newest phones, tablets, wearables and more. TechRadar is reporting live from Barcelona all week to bring you the very latest from the show floor. Head to our dedicated MWC 2019 hub to see all the new releases, along with TechRadar's world-class analysis and buying advice about your next phone.
