Flashback: the rise (and fall?) of the microSD card

04 December 2022
The microSD card grew to bigger and bigger capacities over the years and got faster along the way. So why is it waning in popularity?

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The rise = when they could somehow match the internal storage performance.

The fall = when the internal storage started to perform more than the double performance.

    Anonymous, 04 Dec 2022I'll have to let it go, it's not a big deal for m... moreNothing can be more portable than microsd card.
    Unless smartphones start offering 1tb as base memory.
    Everything eats data like crazy.
    4 browsers almost 4gb. One Call of duty alone is 10gb.
    But samsung n others are still going 6+128gb in inr 30k range.
    Price of 2gb ram increase can buy you 256gb card and still save money.

      • a
      • alois
      • as2
      • 04 Dec 2022

      your smartphone where you stored photos and important files, breaks irreparably and cannot be repaired.
      the clouds have never been used so as not to waste money and time archiving
      you lose everything.
      it's stupid to buy phones without a MicroSD slot

        • D
        • DMX
        • Pcx
        • 04 Dec 2022

        Sony brings all that they are asking for, come on, they only have to shell out 1,500 dollars and they will have it

          • D
          • DMX
          • Pcx
          • 04 Dec 2022

          kek, 04 Dec 2022The people who moan about not needing this or that are prob... moreThose who ask for SD and Jack 3.5 are the ones who cannot buy an iPhone, why does Sony have these characteristics and they don't buy it, they want all that but they want it for 300 dollars and that will never happen hahahaha

            • k
            • kek
            • GBh
            • 04 Dec 2022

            The people who moan about not needing this or that are probably the same people who want an iPhone but cant afford it.

            Theres no reason for a smartphone to not have a micro sd card, be it either for backup purposes or storage expansion. A Hybrid dual slot gives benefits to both sides: dual sim for those who dont want extra storage or storage expansion for those who want it.

            If you care about this, dont buy or support products that work against those choices.

              • k
              • kek
              • GBh
              • 04 Dec 2022

              Anonym, 04 Dec 2022Tapes are incredibly cheap per TB, while SD cards are sever... moreA 1 TB microsd has dropped to around 50$. Tapes are meant for long term storage for enterprises. They have never been used in any consumer format (cassetes are tapes, but thats where comparisons end)

                • U
                • Urs
                • Lay
                • 04 Dec 2022

                I understand the market but any phone manufacturer can heave a ultra version with top specs and card support, I Romania all variations from 512 and 1tb are sold immediately and at pre order 1 tb versions including iPhone, are not in stocks.
                Can't use cloud is not fast enough and is not allowing me too download al my data instantly, what is the point of that?

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • m2J
                  • 04 Dec 2022

                  LoLoL, 04 Dec 2022Still some idiots saying " I hope it has SD" It... moreMaybe for phones but the SD cards are used a lot for a lot of devices and i dont see them die out anytime soon. For professional cameras as example

                    • A
                    • Anonym
                    • J1}
                    • 04 Dec 2022

                    Anonymous, 04 Dec 2022Still see some idiots point out that SD cards are dead, yet... moreTapes are incredibly cheap per TB, while SD cards are several orders of magnitude more expensive than tapes. Other than dropping a massive troll, your point being... ?

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • SqW
                      • 04 Dec 2022

                      The biggest use now of micro sd is handhelds, security cams and other less mainstream its infinitely useful to be able to expand on those storages. fpr phones the use case is limited unless somebody does 4k + video recording and wants hold raw fotos?

                        • K
                        • Klon
                        • pJq
                        • 04 Dec 2022

                        No discussion of UFS based cards? Are there any UFS based SD Cards out there, I think Samsung had a few?

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • 0xP
                          • 04 Dec 2022

                          If only did Samsung kept the SD slot on their flagships, I would consider buying them, but now I'd only consider their midtier phones because 512GB versions are too pricey, and only available on the Ultra which is even pricier.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • 0xU
                            • 04 Dec 2022

                            travis999, 04 Dec 2022And USB hosting through a phones type c port, using a decen... moreYou also forget that most people still use phones with usb2.0 (cheapFruit?) Most people don't need speeds above 100MB/s, since most need a safe space for data and enough speed to listen to their mp3s from the mid-late 2000s.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • 0xU
                              • 04 Dec 2022

                              travis999, 04 Dec 2022And USB hosting through a phones type c port, using a decen... moreGuess you haven't used a portable ssd very much on a phone. That's like carrying a phone with your phone. Don't think many need terabytes of space, but extra [u}safe[/u] space is a good thing.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • MFI
                                • 04 Dec 2022

                                Anyway good topic and nice article.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 0xU
                                  • 04 Dec 2022

                                  An0n, 04 Dec 2022It's a fantasy scenario. Why would you need to access ... moreOnly times when i had data corruption on micro SD cards were when the card reader was failing on the phone or the phone it self was failing (hardware issue). Also been using sd cards since 2007(512mb) to today (256gb) with an upgrade every 4 or so years, after buying my first 32gb card in 2012.

                                    And USB hosting through a phones type c port, using a decent high speed ssd will be much quicker than micro card..

                                      • F
                                      • Fethi
                                      • CDA
                                      • 04 Dec 2022

                                      Maybe new card

                                        • A
                                        • An0n
                                        • tA$
                                        • 04 Dec 2022

                                        Vasra, 04 Dec 2022Still rocking 1TB microsdcard on my phone that already has ... moreIt's a fantasy scenario. Why would you need to access entire 1 tb?

                                        To be realistic: most of phone storage is wasted by app media. Yes there's photo, document, etc, but doubtful most of you doesn't use at least Google drive to back them up periodically. Problem is: implementation of internal storage SD card is mostly non existent in other ROM except AOSP. Even then it has a warning, data corruption is larger when reading/writing to sd card as an internal storage.