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SD cards with 128 TB capacities and 985 MB/s speeds coming in 2019

SDHC/XC/UC will be the first cards to support the new Express specifications. (Source: SD Association)
SDHC/XC/UC will be the first cards to support the new Express specifications. (Source: SD Association)
The improved SD Express cards will feature transfer speeds up to 985 MB/s via the PCIe/NVMe interface and 128 TB storage capacities. These improvements target 4K/8K video processing, VR and augmented reality applications, AI-driven vehicles and IoT ramifications. First to get the latest specs will be the SDHC/XC/UC cards scheduled to arrive in 2019.

SD Version 7.0 specifications have been recently finalized by the SD Association, and the improvements over the current standard are impressive. The most notable upgrades are the peak throughput of 985 MB/s that is achievable via PCIe/NVMe connections, and the storage capacity that jumped from 2 TB to 128 TB.

The new SD cards will feature an “Express” (EX) denominator to indicate the improved specs. In order to allow for future upgrades, the new specs reserve card areas for new pins that will be added at a later date. Some other new features worth mentioning are the increased power consumption that went up to 1.8 W and may further boost performance, the addition of a Host Memory Buffer that acts as a cache memory to boost read/write speeds, plus the integration of Multi-Queue tech, which speeds up simultaneous transfers.

With the greater demands imposed by 4K/8K video processing, virtual/augmented and mixed reality applications, autonomous vehicles and Internet of Things ramifications, the increased throughput of almost 1 GB/s will raise the performance nearly tenfold.

First to benefit from the new Express specs will be the SDHC, SDXC and SDUC cards which should be released at some point in 2019, and the SD Association also intends to upgrade the MicroSD cards at a later date.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2018 06 > SD cards with 128 TB capacities and 985 MB/s speeds coming in 2019
Bogdan Solca, 2018-06-28 (Update: 2018-06-28)