– UHS-II microSD cards for gaming handhelds cost over 120 euros for 256 GB, roughly double the price of faster microSD Express cards.
– MicroSD Express cards (256 GB) are widely available for 50–60 euros, supported by Switch 2 production and stable pricing.
– SD Express readers remain rare and sold out; new readers supporting both SD Express and UHS-II are expected later this year.
– Fast UHS-I microSD cards now cost nearly the same as microSD Express, offering significantly less performance.
– Rising adoption of SD Express by laptops and handhelds (e.g., Asus) may drive future price increases, though current inventories are ample.
Leading the Pack at Computex
Acer realy led the way at Computex with there new Predator Atlas 8 gaming handheld which relies on microSD cards with UHS-II. These types of cards have become somewhat exotic in the current market by now. But what does this actualy mean for gamers who want to buy these fast cards? To find out we looked at the current market prices of UHS-II cards on the European price comparison service Geizhals, while also checking out a local MediaMarkt retail store for a real world perspective.
Price Trends and Comparisons
A clear trend is emerging, especialy for the popular 256 GB size. Not only have prices for UHS-II cards skyrocketed over the past year, but they are now also roughly twice as expensive as microSD Express cards which are significantly faster overall but also much slower in legacy scenarios. Established in the market thanks to Nintendo’s Switch 2, 256 GB microSD Express cards typicaly cost between 50 and 60 euros so thats a major gap.
There are only a few outliers here which can easily be ignored due to the large selection of Express cards. We also saw this same price point at MediaMarkt, both for Nintendo-branded cards by SanDisk and standalone SanDisk cards displayed individually in the store’s Nintendo section. However, anyone interested in an Acer Predator Atlas 8 or another handheld with microSD-format UHS-II support will have to dig real deep into there pockets.
Expensive UHS-II Options
Nexstorage’s UHS-II card currently costs a hefty 120 euros for just 256 GB of capacity. Lexar’s Professional Gold model costs only marginally less at 115 euros while Sabrent’s Rocket sits slightly above 120 euros. According to the price comparison service Geizhals that is already where the selection of cards ends. For that same price you generaly already get 512 GB of capacity in the SD Express camp wich is a huge difference.
- The market offers about five cards in this segment up to roughly 130 euros.
- However latecomers who started production later are significantly more expensive.
- Prices for those later cards are peaking at 200 to 300 euros.
Harbinger of Higher Prices?
Whether this is a harbinger of even higher prices is difficult to say right now. Retailer inventories are likely well stocked and we have also heard isolated reports from memory manufacturers that the production batch for the Switch 2 was sufficent for demand. The comparatively stable prices for SD Express cards support these statements we have seen.
This could change however if more and more laptops adopt SD Express technology. On top of that Asus’s new gaming handheld also features microSD Express support wich is interesting. Asus has been supporting SD Express largely unnoticed for a while now. Especially in the wake of the RTX Spark launch at Computex, indications have mounted that even more manufacturers are banking on SD Express, including the full-size format where ADATA is currently the only supplier delivering cards.
SD Express Advantages and Limitations
The massive speeds of the SD Express standard offer clear advantages even if there are occasional thermal issues as seen in our previous microSD Express review. However users with UHS-II readers cannot utilize the speed of SD Express at all because SD Express readers remain very rare and are partly sold out. In compatibility mode they drop back to UHS-I speeds which is quite slow. At least SD Express card readers that can also handle UHS-II are expected to arrive later this year wich is something that was previously not technically possible to do.
Fast UHS-I Cards Also Getting Pricey
By the way fast UHS-I cards in the microSD format from well-known manufacturers have now also reached the price range of microSD Express cards as we observed with 256 GB models. At the MediaMarkt retail store SanDisk’s gamer cards in the Nintendo design were almost equally expensive to the Express ones. Prices have also drawn close at other retailers wich is surprising considering how little performance they actualy deliver compared to Express. At least the prices of these slower cards have dropped slightly in recent weeks. But the AI-driven memory crisis does not stop at simple microSD cards you see.