On Thursday, SanDisk unveiled two new high-capacity MicroSDXC cards. The 256GB Extreme card is the fastest in its class, offering read speeds up to 100MB/sec and write speeds up to 90MB/sec. A new Premium Edition Ultra series card was also announced with the same capacity and a slightly lower read speed of 95MB/sec. (No word on the Ultra card’s write speed.)
In a press release on the company’s website, and as reported by DPReview, the 256GB Extreme MicroSDXC card is designed for high-end photography and 4K video in action cameras and drones. It can hold up to 14 hours of 4K footage, which is enough to swap the battery 30 times on a DJI Phantom 4. This market is obviously important to SanDisk, and a DJI representative is quoted in the press release, saying the new memory card will provide “high-performance storage and peace of mind” for Phantom owners.
The 256GB Ultra MicroSDXC card is geared toward more casual uses, and is perfect for expanding storage on smartphones and tablets with a MicroSD slot. It can store over 24 hours of full HD video and more than enough photos to put your family and friends to sleep with the slideshow of your trip to Europe. Users can also backup their devices to the card using the free SanDisk Memory Zone app for Android.
SanDisk now joins Samsung in making 256GB MicroSD cards, although even larger capacities are possible and likely in the pipeline for the future. The Ultra card will be available in August for a price of $150, while the Extreme card will be released in the fourth quarter of this year at a price of $200. To put that in perspective, just over a year ago, SanDisk announced a 200GB MicroSD card (the largest at the time) that featured read speeds of 90MB/sec. That sold for $240.