I just got it My Nintendo Switch 2, my internal storage is already full of all my old games and saved! If you’re on the same boat, you might also notice that you can’t just jam in the SD card in the original switch and continue to sway. Instead, you need a new microSD Express card.
The fast standard was introduced in late 2023 and can be written in hundreds of megabytes, but until now it has been used only for high-end digital cameras and niche use cases. As a result, these cards are few and far apart, and they have a significant price premium compared to the more common MicroSD cards. Before I get too stuck in price and availability, though, let’s explore the difference between Express and Standard MicroSD cards and what it means to your Switch 2.
Express Lane
Photo: Brad Bourque
As you guessed from the name, the microSD Express card is faster, but to know exactly what this means, we need to follow the speed and its measurements and displays on the microSD card.
Ordinary non-expression cards use three indicators, and their performance overlaps a bit. If you want to learn more about non-expression cards, we’ll get an in-depth technical guide, but I’m here to provide a short version. There are three scopes: Speed lessonsuse C, UHS Speed Classif the U level is a super high level U mark, and Video speed lessonwith V.
No matter how the display is displayed, the number indicates that the card can read and write at least quickly. For circles and V, this is a straightforward comparison, so a circle with “10” has a continuous write speed of 10MB/s. There are two U variants 1 and 3 corresponding to 10MB/s and 30Mb/s, respectively. Cards are almost always compatible with slower devices, so you may see multiple symbols and numbers on each card.
Indicator Express The card is perhaps unsurprisingly a stylized ex or E, sometimes with a number next to it. Again, this represents the card’s continuous writing speed, with formal support ranging from 150MB/s to 600MB/s. Remember that these are the lowest speeds, so you may see higher-quoted numbers from manufacturers, but whether you can support these speeds depends on the read and write cards of the device.
