5 Of The Best MicroSD Cards For Your Android Device
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While many of the flagship Android phones released nowadays have omitted a microSD card slot, you can still find some phones sporting compatibility for extra storage. You'll have to turn your sights away from the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel to find one, however. The OnePlus Nord N300 5G is one of a few examples you can find of smartphones with expandable storage via microSD card. Once you know you have a phone that can support expandable storage like this, then you can start looking at microSD cards.
The pricing, quality, and storage size of microSD cards will vary. You'll first want to narrow down how much space you want on the card, because you can go all the way up to 1TB of extra storage if you want, but you probably don't need that much extra space for your phone. A large microSD card storage upgrade for a Nintendo Switch would make a lot more sense than it would for a phone, unless you're taking a lot of pictures or recording videos. Of course, it does ultimately boil down to personal preference.
SanDisk 256GB Extreme
A popular and well-known name in the microSD market is SanDisk. It's tough to go wrong with the name, as you're getting a good blend of affordability and storage space. You can snag a 256GB card for $21 on Amazon, a price point that gives you excellent value. With many phones coming with internal storage much lower than that, getting an addition like this provides a huge boon to the amount of content you can download and save.
The speeds this card offers are up to 190 MB/s read speeds powered by SanDisk's proprietary QuickFlow Technology. If you want to save some cash, you can drop down to 64GB for $16.99, but you're losing the bang for your buck if you drop that low. You'll also lose out on some extra speed by lowering the storage. All in all, this is a really good card for what it does. If you're looking for raw speed over the competition, SanDisk will be your choice.
Samsung EVO Select 256 GB
Another well-known brand on the market is Samsung, and the manufacturer makes a very solid microSD card with the EVO line. You can get a 128GB card for $20, or you can bump it up to around $25 for a 256GB option on Amazon. It features transfer speeds of 130 MB/s, so some quickness thanks to the A2 speed rating can be expected here. Nevertheless, this is more than enough for what you'll need for a phone. If you need more size, you can go all the way up to 512GB, or you can opt to drop it down to 64GB.
There are a few variations of Samsung EVO SD cards — EVO, EVO Plus, EVO Pro Plus, and EVO Select — but if you're using it for storage only, you can go for whatever you get the best deal on. The Pro Plus, for example, has faster speeds and is advertised to work best with 4K recordings.
PNY 256GB PRO Elite Class
The 256 GB PNY Pro Elite Class retails for $24.99 on Amazon, which comes in around the same price point as other microSD cards of this size. PNY's storage option does come in a bit slower at 100 MB/s, but it's advertised as having A2 app performance. This means you'll get quicker speeds launching an app when it's installed on this SD card, so installing games or other intensive apps here wouldn't be a bad idea.
Like other microSD card options, you can either save a little, or spend more depending on the storage size you decide to pick up. You can go all the way up to 1TB of storage with this card for $124.99, but that's likely overkill for the average smartphone. This card could also be handy for a Steam Deck storage upgrade, but you should probably stick to a smaller, cheaper storage option for your Android device.
Lexar Professional 1066x 256 GB
If you're looking for a high-end microSD card at an affordable price, the Lexar Professional 1066x option is perfect. At its regular price, you can find the Lexar offering for $29.99 on Amazon. That does make it pricier than other options on the list, but it makes up for it with the fast speeds and a lifetime limited warranty. You can increase the storage up to 1TB for $144.99, or you can lower the price all the way to $14.99 if you opt for 64GB of storage. The sweet spot for a phone is probably around 256GB, but that's up to preference.
The A2 speeds offered here make it a good option for gaming and intensive apps. While your phone's internal memory will typically be faster than an SD card, putting big installs like a mobile game on a separate storage unit isn't a bad idea. This frees up a lot of extra space for your internal memory for other important apps and data.
Kingston 256GB Canvas Select Plus
Kingston is well-known in the tech storage space, and the Canvas Select Plus series is a nice microSD card if you can get your hands on it. You can buy a 256 GB microSD card for $26.99 from Amazon, but you can catch it on sale quite often. You're getting A1 speeds here, which is a tad slower than the A2 speed rating that some of the other microSD cards offer. For the majority of people who are just looking for extra storage space, this will be perfectly fine, but it's something you'll want to keep in mind.
Outside of that, you're going to be getting the same quality as any of the other microSD cards on the list. You can drop the price all the way down to around $8 on Amazon if you go for the 32GB option. This won't really give you a ton of extra space, so you're probably better off going to at least 64GB if you want to save some money.