Moore's Law is an amazing thing, folks. Yesterday, SanDisk announced its latest high-capacity Ultra-branded microSDXC card, which crams 200GB of storage into a card that can fit within the circumference of a penny. That's a bit staggering to think about.
The SanDisk Ultra 128GB microSD card. The 200GB version looks exactly like this, but says 200GB.
SanDisk claims that the 200GB capacity is a first for a microSDXC card, and the company says a "new design and production process that allows for more bits per die" helped make the jump from 128GB to 200GB possible. SanDisk claims 90MB/s transfer speeds for the Ultra 200GB, as well, though the company's press release didn't describe how that figure was determined.
While 200GB of storage for a phone may sound like overkill, 4K (or 2160p) video capture is an increasingly common feature on mobile devices. 4K TVs and monitors will probably become more mainstream in the next few years, as well. With four times the number of pixels of 1080p video, 4K content will chew up storage space accordingly, so SanDisk might be ahead of the curve here.
Along with this huge card, SanDisk announced an updated version of its Memory Zone app, which can monitor internal storage utilization and automatically move files to the microSD card as needed. SanDisk says that this app is compatible with most Android devices, and it sounds useful to me. Manually managing files on a mobile device isn't my idea of a fun time.
Hopefully, aspiring 4K videographers and SanDisk alike can still find a home for microSD cards in mobile devices in the years to come. Apple's iPhones and Google's Nexus 6 lack microSD slots, and so does the new Samsung Galaxy S6.
SanDisk says the Ultra 200GB microSDXC card should be available in the second quarter for $399.99. That price will get you a bundled SD adapter and a 10-year limited warranty.