SanDisk finally has a 1TB microSD Express Card among its storage ranks. While the brand was one of the first (alongside Samsung) to provide officially licensed storage options for the Nintendo Switch 2, it had yet to launch a 1000 GB capacity card for both the handheld (and other compatible devices) until now.
The new card was shown off at Gamescom last week, as originally reported by NotebookCheck, adding to the brand’s 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB microSDXC lineup. While that’s great for those of us who want a little more variety when it comes to browsing the best Nintendo Switch 2 microSD Express Card options, you might not enjoy its staggering $359.99 MSRP, which is almost the entirety of the cost of the console itself.
At $359.99, there’s only $140 separating its price from that of the Switch 2’s new US MSRP. To make matters more unnerving, there’s every chance that it’s just an introductory discounted price, as the official SanDisk website has it scored out at over $474.99. That could suggest it costs even more than a Switch 2 with no discounts around, which feels like current SSD price levels of depressing.
The 1TB SanDisk microSD Express Card is currently $359.99 at Amazon, but if you understandably can’t budget that high, I recommend sticking with the $58.99 256GB card instead. It’s even a fraction cheaper than the officially licensed Mario-branded equivalent today.
Setting aside the price for a moment, the 1TB Switch 2 SD is powered by a PCIe Gen 3-NVMe interface, which, when combined with its standard microSD UHS-I interface, allows the card to reach read speeds up to 880MB/s. These are the same boasted speeds across the rest of the lineup, and as such, it also utilizes the brand’s ThermAdapt technology to prevent overheating and is boasted by the official SanDisk website to be waterproof, temperature-proof, humidity-proof, drop-proof, and generally “wear-out proof” should you be planning to put the card through its paces.
It’s available right now via Amazon or the official SanDisk online store in the US, but you have more options if you can’t quite stomach the costly card. Both Lexar and PNY have 1TB options available for $349.99 and $299.99 at Amazon, respectively. Lexar’s card is even a little faster as it boasts read speeds up to 900MB/s, so it’s worth checking out the competition if you need more space for your Switch 2 games and downloads.
If you’re a bit flabbergasted by the prices of these 1TB cards, you aren’t alone. I’ve been covering Switch 2 SD cards since the console dropped and discovered that, just like the best SSDs for gaming, Switch 2 SD card prices have been on the rise. It’s sent me into a bit of a spiral. In fact, the 1TB PNY option was as low as $199.99 when I reviewed the card earlier this year, a price I’d hoped to see listed for this new SanDisk version when I first heard of its existence.
Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case, and I was greeted with the $359.99 it’s listed for today. If you’re looking to invest in a Switch 2 and want extra storage, my best recommendation is to avoid this and grab a 256GB alternative and see how that fares for you. That’ll at least double your available storage from the get-go, and won’t cost you over $350 – which is more than I even pay for my own monthly mortgage.
- View all microSD Express Cards at Amazon
SanDisk has also launched new Mew and Mewtwo Edition Pokemon drives if you’re on the hunt for more storage.