Samsung is launching a new line of P9 Express microSD Express cards today, with the company saying they are "optimized for the Nintendo Switch 2". The new cards come in two capacities to start: 256GB and 512GB, aiming to give gamers a speed upgrade for their consoles and other high-performance devices.
Samsung says that this new P9 lineup delivers sequential read speeds of "up to 800MB/s". That figure was achieved on a specific PCIe test board, so the actual speeds may vary depending on what device you slot the card into.
The cards also have support for Host Memory Buffer, or HMB, which uses your device"s own RAM for caching to "accelerate data access" and improve response times while gaming. Another feature borrowed from the SSD world is Dynamic Thermal Guard, which monitors the card"s temperature to prevent it from getting hot and throttling performance.
The company claims the P9 Express can survive in seawater for up to 72 hours. The other protections cover extreme operating temperatures from -13 to 185°F, airport X-ray machines, powerful magnetic fields similar to an MRI, drops from over 16 feet, and general wear from up to 10,000 insertions.
SD Express is a newer memory card standard that essentially crams the guts of a tiny NVMe solid-state drive into a microSD card form factor. It uses the PCIe interface for much faster transfer speeds than the old UHS-I standard could ever manage.
Samsung began supporting the standard last year, first showing off a prototype 256GB card. At the time, the company did not give a release date or price, just a vague promise of a launch later that year.
The first public release was the Nintendo-licensed Samsung microSD Express 256GB "Super Mario Edition", which launched alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 console back in June, for $59.99.
The new P9 Express cards are available now at Samsung"s website and some other retailers. The pricing is set at $54.99 for the 256GB model and $99.99 for the 512GB version.