I got my Nintendo Switch 2, and my internal storage is already filling up with all my old games and saves! If you're in the same boat, you may have also noticed you can't just jam in the SD card from your original Switch and keep rocking. Instead, you'll need a new microSD Express card.
This Express standard was introduced in late 2023, and it enables write speeds in the hundreds of megabytes, but until now the cards themselves were as rare as any devices that used the standard. As a result, the cards are few and far between, and they carry a significant price premium over the more common microSD cards. Before I get too caught up in the price and availability though, let’s just go over what the difference is between Express and standard microSD cards and what it means for your Switch 2.
Updated July 2025: We've clarified details about the release and usage of microSD Express, added hands-on testing with Samsung's Nintendo-branded offering, and added speed-based benchmarks to supplement the practical testing.
Express Lane
As you might have guessed from the name, microSD Express cards are faster, but to understand exactly what that means, we need to break down what we mean by speed and how it’s measured and displayed on microSD cards.
Normal, non-express cards use three metrics with some overlap in performance. We've got an in-depth technical guide if you want to know more about the non-express cards, but I'll give the short version here. There are three ranges: Speed Class, denoted with a C, UHS Speed Class, as marked by a U for Ultra High Speed Class, and Video Speed Class, with a V.
Regardless of how it’s displayed, the number indicates that the card is able to read and write at least that fast. For the Circle and the V, it’s a direct comparison, so a circle with a “10” in it has a 10MB/s sustained write speed. There are two U variants, 1 and 3, which correspond 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.
The indicator for Express cards is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a stylized EX or E, sometimes with a number next to it. Once again, this represents the card’s sustained write speed, with officially supported ranges from 150MB/s up to 600MB/s. Remember that these are minimum speeds, so you may see manufacturers quote even higher numbers, but whether you'll be able to support those speeds will depend on the device reading and writing to the card.
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That means your microSD Express card will also work as a V30 device when installed in a device that supports that standard, for example. Make sure not to confuse the actual new standard of Express with the performance adjective Extreme that many manufacturers use.
Speed isn't the only difference. The overall card shape is the same, but the pins on the back have a different configuration. Most standard microSD cards use the UHS-I or UHS-II standard, with one or two rows of pins. The new Express card's pins have two rows in a more compact shape, but are still compatible with slower readers via the top row.
The main reason you’d want a microSD Express card is for the Nintendo Switch 2. A detailed page on the Nintendo website lists compatibility and requirements for the new device. While you can load images and videos from a regular microSD card onto the Switch 2, you’ll need a proper Express card to use it like normal for save files and game data.
One detail missing is the actual sustained write speed needed by the console to function properly. Thankfully, I've got a few of the new cards, and my Nintendo Switch 2, as well as a USB microSD Express reader, to help get to the bottom of things.
Hands On
If you just search for standard microSD cards on Amazon, the most common result will be cards with a 30MB per second write speed. A 128GB version of one of these cards starts around $10 and goes up to almost $20, and you can often find discounts if you buy multiple.
A microSD Express card, on other hand, will run you upwards of $50 for the same 128GB capacity, a significant price jump for the extra speed boost. I was able to get my hands on three MicroSD Express cards at launch. The models I have tried so far are the SanDisk 256 GB microSD Express for $72, the PNY 256 GB microSD Express for $56, and the official Nintendo-branded Samsung 256 GB microSD Express for $60. While there are 128GB versions available, you only have one slot on the Switch 2, and games are quickly getting larger, so I'd recommend at least the 256 GB models.
The Switch 2 was able to move Rocket League, a 20.3 GB game, from the system's internal storage to the SanDisk in four minutes and 12 seconds, while the PNY took six minutes and 46 seconds to accomplish the same task, and the Samsung finished in five minutes and 23 seconds. There wasn't as much of a gap to move the game from the card back to the system, with all the cards I tested taking around three minutes and 30 seconds. I didn't spot any practical time differences between the cards when playing or loading games.
For comparison, my original Switch moved that console's version of Rocket League, a 3.4GB game, to the regular microSD card in two minutes and 32 seconds, and back to the console in two minutes and 16 seconds. Games for the Switch 2 are so much larger, it makes sense Nintendo would push for a faster storage option to save you a lot of time, even if it costs you some bucks.
I was only able to find two USB-based microSD Express readers, and SanDisk sent over the PRO-Reader SD Express so I could benchmark the cards. I also included a non-express Samsung Pro Plus, which is only V30, for comparison between generations.
Weirdly, these results don't seem to line up with my quick-and-dirty stopwatch test. The Nintendo-branded Samsung card was much slower in a sequential write test, even though it was right in the middle for performance moving a game to the card. Meanwhile, the PNY has a higher sequential write speed but was noticeably slower than the SanDisk and Samsung.
MicroSD Express is a totally new standard, and these are the first examples, so it's possible there are implementation differences, or the Switch 2 is doing some optimization under the hood that isn't visible to me.
Either way, I feel comfortable suggesting whichever of the cards mentioned above is the least expensive at 256 GB, with only a very minor difference in performance, and really only when moving larger games between system memory and the card. Unless you own a Switch 2, you can probably stick to standard microSD cards for now.
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