Buying A Nintendo Switch 2? Expand Its Storage With These MicroSD Express Cards
First things first—congrats to any of you who managed to preorder a Nintendo Switch 2 console ahead of its imminent retail release. For anyone who missed out, you'll get another chance on launch day, or even the night before with Best Buy hosting a late-night launch event. Whether you secured a preorder or hope to snatch one on launch day, don't forget to pick up a microSD Express card to expand the system's storage.
Why microSD Express and not just a regular microSD card? The Switch 2 is not only one of the first devices to support the faster storage specification (even though SD Express has been around for nearly a decade), it's the only type of microSD card supported on the next-gen handheld. That's to say, you can't bring your existing microSD card in your current Switch 1 console to the Switch 2 party.
"Nintendo Switch 2 is only compatible with microSD Express cards.
microSD Express cards are faster at reading and writing data compared to microSD cards, which are used with Nintendo Switch," Nintendo succinctly explains in a support document. Inserting a microSD card that has been previously used on a Nintendo Switch console into a Nintendo Switch 2 console will not allow you to save or load digital games or save data."
You'll be able to load Switch 1 screenshots and videos that you captured on a microSD card, but that's it. The other thing Nintendo notes is that before you can use a newfangled microSD Express card in your Switch 2 console, you'll need to update your handheld (suggesting there will be a day-1 update available).
Naturally, Nintendo recommends using licensed microSD Express cards that are specifically recommended for the Switch 2. Any microSD Express card from a reliable manufacturer should suffice, though where things get tricky is in actually find one in stock.
Part of the reason is because the microSD Express standard never really gained much traction. However, the Switch 2's upcoming release has spurred demand, and there are lots of sold out listings. That's the bad news. The good news? The landscape is improving, and we've found several models that are in stock at various retailers. Here are your options at the moment...
- 1TB Lexar Play Pro microSD Express: $219.99 at Adorama
- 512GB Lexar Play Pro microSD Express: $119.99 at Adorama
- 256GB Lexar Play Pro microSD Express: $59.99 at Adorama
- 256GB PNY microSD Express: $55.99 at Amazon
- 128GB SanDisk microSD Express: $53.99 at Amazon
- 128GB PNY microSD Express: $44.99 at Amazon
All of the cards listed above are in stock at the time of this writing. Additionally, you can preorder a licensed 256GB Samsung microSD Express card for $59.99 at Target. It's also listed at Walmart, but is showing as unavailable.
There aren't a ton of options, but we expect that change over time. Pricing should get better, too. In the meantime, if you venture out on your own, make sure the card you are buying is specifically of the Express type. It can be easy to get confused—there are a bunch of licensed (and Nintendo character-themed) microSD cards for the Switch 1, but those will not work on the Switch 2.
