Hot on the heels of Nintendo’s Switch 2 announcement, Lexar has now made its 1TB PLAY PRO microSD card official, making it the “world’s first 1TB microSD Express Card.” Designed specifically for the new Nintendo Switch 2, this new model is built on the new SD card standard that combines PCI Express 3.0 and NVMe 1.3 interfaces, and it is said to deliver a significantly improved performance over the regular non-Express ones. The new PLAY PRO microSD Express cards are already listed on Amazon with prices starting at $49.99 shipped for the 256GB variant. Head below for a closer look and more details.
The Nintendo Switch 2, in case you don’t know, has microSD Express storage support to enable faster data transfer speeds compared to the original Switch’s standard microSD cards. This upgrade is promised to offer smoother gameplay and faster loading for high-resolution games, but it also means that your older microSD cards won’t work with the new handheld. For those looking to pick up the new microSD cards for Switch 2, Lexar’s PLAY PRO Express microSD cards stand as a solid choice offering sequential read and write speeds of 900MB/s and 600MB/s, respectively. SanDisk also has a couple of Express microSD cards in its catalog, but they top out at 256GB storage, which makes Lexar’s PLAY PRO the only option that comes with up to 1TB storage.
With as much as 1TB storage for your Nintendo Switch 2, you’ll be armed and ready for pretty much any and all AAA games that are set to hit the console including Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition. These microSD cards are also backward-compatible with UHS-I and UHS-II host devices, meaning you can use them with devices other than the Switch 2 as well. Other highlights of the Lexar PLAY PRO microSD Express cards include a limited lifetime warranty and access to the Lexar Recovery Tool that you can use to recover accidentally deleted or formatted files.
Here’s a quick look at some of the key specifications of Lexar’s PLAY PRO microSD Express cards:
- Capacity: 1TB, 512GB, and 256GB
- Performance: Up to 900MB/s read, 600MB/s write speed
- Dimensions: 11mm x 15mm x 1mm
- Video Speed Class: V30
- Warranty: Limited lifetime warranty
- Operating Temperature: -25° to 85°C (-13°F to 185°F)
- Storage Temperature: -40° to 85°C (-40°F to 185°F)
Lexar’s new PLAY PRO microSD Express card comes in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB variants, and the prices start at $49.99 shipped. These are starting to go quick and all units are already temporarily out of stock as folks are rushing to get their hands on one before the Switch 2’s arrival, so be sure to keep an eye on the listings and snag them as soon as they’re available.
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