These next-gen SD cards combine PCIe and NVMe to offer ferocious read/write speeds

Taiwanese storage manufacturer ADATA has announced the release of a new line of micro SD cards, boasting what look to be some seriously impressive read/write speeds. 

The next-gen “SD Express Cards” will be launching in the second quarter of 2021 so storage aficionados will have to make do with some exciting statistics until they get their hands on the real thing.

ADATA claims that its SD Express Cards will be capable of delivering read/write speeds of 825/410MB/s. For comparison, the fastest SD cards have a top speed of just 312MB/s.

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The need for speed

In order to achieve their impressive speeds, ADATA’s SD cards use the newly released SD7.0 specification, which includes the incorporation of both the PCIe and NVM3 interfaces. 

The use of both of these interfaces, which are already employed by solid state drives (SSDs), allows the SD Express Cards to deliver speed increases of up to 300%.

Because the creation of the next generation SD cards required the addition of extra pins, the speed increases will only be achievable for devices that have an SD 7.0 card reader slot. Nevertheless, ADATA’s SD Express Cards will still work with older devices, so owners do not need to worry about compatibility issues when plugging their SD card into their laptop, smartphone, or digital camera.

By offering higher speed SD cards, ADATA will provide users with a viable alternative to SSDs, which, although capable of impressive speeds already, are not nearly as portable as SD cards. ADATA did not provide additional details regarding specific models of Express SD Cards, nor any price points – further information is likely to be made available as we move closer to a likely release date.

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