The very best microSD playing cards for the Nintendo Swap 2

If you wish to broaden the storage of your Nintendo Switch 2, you’ll want a microSD Categorical card. That is not the identical because the extra conventional microSD cards you could have purchased for the unique Swap or different gaming handhelds; Categorical playing cards are newer, sooner and considerably costlier on common. However they’re your only choice, and given how a lot house certain Swap 2 games chew up, you’ll in all probability haven’t any alternative however to get one finally. Which to purchase, although? When you’re searching for the very best microSD card for the Swap 2 immediately, we’ve damaged down what it’s best to know earlier than taking the plunge.

The very best microSD playing cards for the Swap 2 (aren’t all that vital)

The Swap 2 is the primary mainstream gadget to require microSD Categorical for storage growth, so there aren’t many choices that can be purchased simply but. Of the handful of appropriate fashions launched so far, we’ve now examined seven: the SanDisk microSD Express Card (aka the “SanDisk GamePlay microSD Express Card” at Walmart), the Lexar Play Pro, the Samsung microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2, the Samsung P9 Express, the PNY microSD Express Card, the GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2 and the Onn microSD Express Card. The primary 5 are made by real storage producers, whereas the GameStop and Onn playing cards look like rebadged variations of different fashions. We used the 256GB model of each card aside from Lexar Play Professional, which was 1TB.

After timing these microSD Categorical playing cards throughout a spread of Swap 2 video games, our recommendation is straightforward: Get whichever one is in inventory for the bottom worth within the capability you need. They aren’t identically quick, particularly if you wish to transfer a sport to the cardboard from the console’s inner storage (or vice versa). However the variations in load occasions and total efficiency inside precise video games are powerful to note until you’ve gotten a stopwatch helpful.

All 5 playing cards loaded up the digital model of Mario Kart World, as an illustration, between 18 and 20 seconds. Every loaded the primary Grand Prix race in about 6.5 seconds. Attending to the beginning display of Cyberpunk 2077 took about 38 or 39 seconds in every case. Loading a save in a very asset-heavy space (Jig-Jig Street) then took between 26 and 29 seconds, relying on the cardboard. (The one exception was with the Onn card, which averaged nearer to 31 seconds with that individual process, although that’s additionally the most cost effective alternative.)

With Fast Fusion, a smaller native Swap 2 sport, the preliminary load at all times took six to seven seconds, whereas every card loaded the primary championship race in roughly 4 seconds. It was the same state of affairs with the Swap 2 improve for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (utilizing a Swap 1 cartridge): Every card took simply over six seconds to get to the beginning display, between 19 and 20 seconds to load a save simply earlier than the ultimate boss, about 16 seconds to quick journey between Kakariko Village and Korok Forest, and so forth. We noticed no important points with in-game masses when enjoying every sport, both.

All of this implies that the Swap 2 has a comparatively particular goal for these playing cards to hit, and that there might not be a lot room for one mannequin to leap too far out in entrance of the others. We’ll additionally be aware that the console’s built-in storage was persistently sooner than any exterior possibility: The hole wasn’t at all times massive, however no card actually outpaced it in any of our checks. Loading that demanding space in Cyberpunk, for instance, took about 22.5 seconds on common. So in order for you absolutely the quickest load occasions, don’t put your sport on a card in any respect.

When you want the psychological consolation of understanding you technically have the very best card accessible, get the SanDisk microSD Express Card. It had no outliers throughout our many sport loading checks, and it was persistently proper close to the highest when it got here to shifting video games to and from system storage, which implies it affords sturdy sequential learn and write efficiency. Benchmark testing on PC with instruments like CrystalDiskMark backed this up, as famous in our broader microSD card buying guide.

Placing Mario Kart (a 21.9GB file) on that card took 4 minutes and 39 seconds on common, which was solely second to the Lexar Play Professional by six seconds. It was the quickest to jot down Quick Fusion (3.5GB), taking a mean of 27 seconds throughout three runs. Solely PNY’s card was sooner to maneuver video games again to the console’s storage, however that one was far slower at writing video games to the cardboard — getting Mario Kart on there took seven minutes and 11 seconds on common. Simply be aware that the 128GB model of SanDisk’s card has slower sequential writes than the bigger variations, together with a lot slower sustained write speeds (100 MB/s vs 210-220 MB/s). So transferring a sport to that individual mannequin will take for much longer. The Onn card was additionally slower to maneuver video games again to system storage, taking about 50 seconds greater than the SanDisk with Mario Kart and practically three minutes longer with Cyberpunk.

Virtually talking, although, pace variations aren’t as vital on this case as having plenty of house to carry video games at a worth you may dwell with. To make issues straightforward, we’ve listed each Categorical card we’ve seen at retailers on the time of writing under. Bear in mind: You need microSD Categorical, not “Excessive,” just like the branding SanDisk makes use of for some conventional microSD cards. A microSD Categorical card may have an enormous “EX” emblem printed on it.

128GB

• SanDisk microSD Express Card ($64 MSRP)

• PNY microSD Express Card ($48 MSRP)

256GB

512GB

1TB

• Lexar Play Pro ($220 MSRP)

• GameStop Express microSD Card for Nintendo Switch 2 ($190 MSRP)

As you may see, whereas the SanDisk card is quick, it’s additionally the most costly of an already-pricey bunch. Is it value an additional $10-20 to shave a pair seconds off sure masses in sure video games, or a pair minutes when shifting a sport to exterior storage? In all probability not for most individuals.

However inventory for all of those playing cards has been a bit patchy because the Swap 2 landed, significantly for the Walmart Onn mannequin, which has sometimes been the most cost effective alternative. Extra lately, the GameStop-branded playing cards appear to have bought out too. If just one card is definitely accessible by the point you learn this — and you could have it immediately — it’s secure to simply get it. You gained’t lose or acquire all that a lot relating to real-world efficiency.

We’ve beneficial holding off on shopping for a microSD Categorical card for so long as doable in earlier updates to this information, and finally every mannequin above ought to nonetheless come down in worth over time. We noticed a number of Express card discounts throughout Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as an illustration.

However between President Trump’s tariff hikes and the continued AI-driven shortages for reminiscence and high-capacity storage, you’d be justified if you happen to needed to seize the biggest card you may fairly afford sooner reasonably than later. These items are nonetheless expensive in comparison with conventional microSD playing cards: The Samsung Pro Plus, for instance, prices $17 for 128GB, $27 for 256GB, $50 for 512GB and $95 for 1TB as of this writing. And ideally, we’ll see extra high-capacity choices down the highway: Nintendo says the Swap 2 technically supports playing cards as much as 2TB, however to date solely a pair even go as much as 1TB. It is best to nonetheless attempt to use all 256GB baked into the Swap 2 first, even when it means having to delete a sport or two. However if you happen to completely want more room instantly, the playing cards above needs to be advantageous immediately.

What are microSD Categorical playing cards?

Most microSD playing cards are based mostly on a regular referred to as Extremely Excessive Velocity (UHS), of which there are three variations: UHS-I, UHS-II and UHS-III. The overwhelming majority of playing cards you could have purchased previously make the most of UHS-I. These have one row of pins within the again and a theoretical most information switch pace of 104 megabytes per second (MB/s). (Although many playing cards are in a position to surpass that restrict with proprietary tech and card readers.) The unique Swap has a UHS-I microSD slot, as do most different gaming handhelds like Valve’s Steam Deck.

UHS-II playing cards add a second row of pins and might attain as much as 312 MB/s. These are pricier and far much less frequent than playing cards based mostly on UHS-I, however they’re supported by some cameras and higher-power handhelds just like the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X. UHS-III, in the meantime, is twice as quick as UHS-II in idea (624 MB/s), however no microSD playing cards have truly used it.

UHS-I playing cards have held on through the years as a result of they’re low-cost, broadly supported and quick sufficient for the issues most individuals want them to do: document 4K video, stash images and so forth. However with the Swap 2, Nintendo needs more. The brand new console is dramatically extra highly effective, which permits it to run demanding games that will have initially been constructed for stronger {hardware} just like the PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X or gaming PCs. The gadget also uses UFS 3.1 storage internally, which is way speedier than the eMMC storage utilized by the unique Swap. (A customized file decompression engine helps enhance load occasions as nicely.) So if the Swap 2 goes to just accept microSD playing cards, it wants ones that gained’t carry a severe drop-off in efficiency and might maintain up with fashionable video games.

Therefore, SD Categorical. This commonplace has technically been around since 2018 however principally went nowhere till the Swap 2 got here alongside. It additionally makes use of a second row of pins, but it surely lets microSD playing cards reap the benefits of the PCI Categorical (PCIe)/NVMe interface, which is identical underlying tech utilized by modern SSDs. In consequence, it will probably produce significantly sooner learn and write speeds, with a present theoretical maximum of 985 MB/s.

As famous above, real-world efficiency gained’t be fairly that quick. Even when it was, the very best microSD Categorical playing cards would nonetheless be a lot slower than the NVMe SSDs used by the PS5 and Xbox. (Sony recommends SSDs with sequential learn speeds of no less than 5,500 MB/s.) They usually’ll fall nicely under their peak speeds beneath sustained masses: SanDisk, as an illustration, says sustained write speeds for its 128GB Categorical card can drop as little as 100 MB/s.

However they’re nonetheless a marked enchancment over outdated UHS-I playing cards, and in idea, they need to be faster than some older SATA-based SSDs when it comes loading sport ranges, asset streaming, retrieving saves or copying video games to exterior storage. Whereas SanDisk’s microSD Categorical card can produce sequential learn speeds round 900 MB/s, Lexar’s Professional Silver Plus — the highest UHS-I choose in our basic microSD card information — topped out simply over 200 MB/s, and that’s with a proprietary reader. (On the primary Swap, it’d be nearer to 100 MB/s.) Sequential writes and random speeds had been three to 4 occasions higher as nicely, and generally much more relying on the benchmark we used.

It stays to be seen how nicely these Categorical playing cards will maintain up with years of use, and there’s no technique to know precisely when their sky-high costs will drop. Non-Swap 2 units that help microSD Categorical are nonetheless exceedingly uncommon, and the usual itself isn’t backwards appropriate with UHS-II, so that you’ll be restricted to UHS-I speeds if you wish to use your card with one other gadget (until you purchase a pricey external reader). Nonetheless, whereas the elevated prices and restricted choice are annoying, the tech itself is worthy of a next-gen Swap.

How we take a look at microSD Categorical playing cards

We put our microSD Categorical playing cards by a collection of checks meant to simulate how individuals would use every card on the Swap 2 in the true world. We primarily labored with 4 video games: a mid-sized title in Mario Kart World, a small one in Quick Fusion, a comparatively massive one in Cyberpunk 2077 and a hybrid in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which ran off a Swap 1 cartridge however used a roughly 10GB Swap 2 improve pack that was downloaded and put in digitally.

We first timed how lengthy it took to maneuver every sport from the system’s inner storage to the cardboard in query, and vice versa. We then timed how lengthy it took to load every sport when put in to a given card. After that, we measured how shortly the playing cards may load sure in-game situations: the primary Grand Prix race in Mario Kart; the primary championship race in Quick Fusion; quick touring between the Jig-Jig Avenue, Embers and Downtown Central areas in Cyberpunk and quick touring between the Kakariko Village, Korok Forest and the Hyrule Fortress City Ruins areas in Zelda. (We selected these locations within the latter two video games as a result of they’re extra taxing than different areas.) With Cyberpunk and Zelda, we additionally timed how lengthy it took to load up totally different save information in these areas.

With every take a look at, we accomplished three to 5 runs to account for any irregularities and marked down the typical time taken between them. We did every take a look at in airplane mode, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off, to attenuate any efficiency drain that might come up from background downloads. Between every take a look at, we additionally spent no less than an hour enjoying the video games off every card to make sure there have been no important drop-offs in comparison with the console’s built-in storage.

Current updates

December 2025: We’ve examined Samsung’s P9 Categorical card, although our basic procuring recommendation for this market stays the identical.

November 2025: We’ve examined the 256GB model of Walmart’s Onn microSD Categorical card and edited our information accordingly. It’s usually slower than a lot of the different choices we’ve tried, particularly when shifting video games to and from system storage, and in artificial benchmark checks on a PC. However the efficiency drop-off isn’t significantly noticeable in precise Swap 2 video games, so if you happen to see it in inventory and simply wish to pay as little as doable, it’s a good purchase.

September 2025: We’ve taken one other go by this information to substantiate our recommendation remains to be correct. We’ve additionally famous a brand new 512GB model of PNY’s microSD Categorical card and confirmed {that a} “SanDisk GamePlay” Categorical card bought at Walmart has the identical efficiency as the usual SanDisk mannequin we suggest above, simply with a special identify.