There are plenty of interesting facts that have surfaced in recent months about Nintendo’s imminent Switch 2 console: It’s (mostly) backwards compatible with legacy Switch software, the system and Joy-Cons are noticeably bigger (thank God) and while docked, the Switch 2 can output games in glorious 4K resolution. A quieter but equally meaningful change has been the console’s migration to the faster microSD Express standard.
This means quicker read speeds than the original Switch’s standard microSD cards, and in fact, the Switch 2 won’t even accept such lowly microSD filth. Damn, Switch 2. You savage.
This sort of technology expiration is a real bummer if you were planning on using the same expanded storage that’s currently sitting inside your legacy Switch, but hey, this is an upgraded hardware experience, and with that comes changing compatibilities and improved storage bandwidth. Increased prices as well, seeing as microSD Express cards will set you back more cash than standard microSDs.
Enter Lexar’s new microSDXC Express card and accompanying reader accessory, the latter of which should come in handy when managing Switch 2 screenshots and whatnot directly on my PC. This isn’t an official Nintendo product, mind you, but you’ll be able to pop it in your new Switch 2 all the same. I was sent the largest 1TB variant for review, which retails for $199.99, although there are other options available, like the 512GB version ($99.99) and the 256GB version ($49.99).
The packaging shows a Switch 2 silhouette to convey upcoming compatibility, as well as the card’s relatively impressive specs: Read speed of up to 900 MB/s and a write speed of up to 600 MB/s. For comparison’s sake, competitor SanDisk’s Nintendo-branded microSD Switch card only boasts a read speed of up to 100 MB/s and a write speed of up to 90 MB/s.
While the new Express cards are much faster than the vanilla ones we’ve been using in our Switch systems for ages now, they still pale in comparison to other solid state storage from the PC world. Many of the M.2 NVMe Gen 4 SSDs start at around 7,000 MB/s read speed and 6,000 MB/s write speed, and that’s now improving dramatically with PCIe Gen 5 technology. So yeah, the Switch 2 cards are glaringly slower, but practically speaking, they probably don’t need that sort of intense bandwidth.
Aesthetically, this new Express card looks pretty similar to the one I have installed on my legacy Switch, and I’m not sure if there are any physical differences whatsoever. I imagine you’ll be able to insert a standard microSD into the Switch 2, but it will give you some kind of error, and unfortunately, we can’t exactly test Lexar’s Express card at the present moment, for obvious reasons. The Switch 2 doesn’t launch for another month, and I’m not lucky enough to have found a roadside Switch 2 that perhaps, I don’t know, fell off a delivery truck. I’ll keep looking.
I did, however, test the card’s speed via the included USB reader accessory on my PC, and the results were rather underwhelming. I’m not putting much faith in these low numbers, however, because too many variables are at play here. It could be an issue with the external USB connection, or the reader itself, so I’ll hold back on offering criticism until I can test this card in an actual Switch 2 through its PCIe. Not that Nintendo will offer an in-console benchmark tool, so I’ll have to find another way.
Something to note is that this reader has a tiny fan inside its casing, and that thing sure ramped up when I was testing via CrystalDiskMark. Sounded like a tiny plane taking off.
Even if Switch 2 doesn’t release until June 5, it’s cool that we’re getting third-party add-ons beforehand, and it reminds me of how you could buy N64 controllers months before the console launched in the US back in 1996. If only Nintendo would start shipping the new Pro controller ahead of schedule!
Check back here on my Forbes page in June to read more salient impressions of Lexar’s Express microSDXC card, after some real-life usage. I’ll be installing it directly on my Switch 2, if I can get my hands on a unit, that is.
