Adata has introduced memory card SD Express 8.0, with read and write speeds of up to 1.6 GB/s and 1.2 GB/s, respectively.
It is noted that this is 12 times faster than UHS-1, 4 times faster than UHS-2, and even faster than some NVMe SSDs. Currently, the Premier Extreme SD 8.0 Express is available only in a 512GB variant.
SD Express technology was introduced back in 2018 with the SD 7.0 standard. However, the first commercial variants appeared only in 2025. SD Express cards are similar to SSDs in many ways. They also use PCI Express and the NVMe protocol.
Even entry-level SD Express cards are designed for a theoretical maximum bus speed of about 985 MB/s (PCIe 3.1 x1). This figure is gradually increasing, and cards based on PCIe 4.0 x2 already reach 4 GB/s in accordance with the SD 8.0 standard.
These speeds are slower than modern SSDs, but they are faster than drives that use the older SATA III interface and outperform portable SSDs in data transmission speed.
However, the SD Express 8.0 recording speed for U3 and V30 class video is limited to 30 MB/s SD Express 8.0 supports simultaneous access to multiple devices, which increases the efficiency of data integration The design also features built-in LDPC ECC automatic error correction technology and has passed many rigorous tests such as waterproof, shockproof, anti-static, and high and low temperature resistance, providing comprehensive protection for data security.
Unfortunately, these cards are not yet widely used, except in Nintendo Switch 2 consoles and professional video equipment. The fact is that almost all smartphone manufacturers have abandoned the concept of expanding the memory capacity. The integration of this type of card would have required the creation of a separate slot and the reduction of several PCIe cards.
These cards are also not cheap. They cost about 25 cents for each gigabyte. Whereas SSDs cost only 5-6 cents per gigabyte Given that both are based on the same NAND flash memory technology, the cost of SD Express-based memory cards is likely to decrease over time.
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Source: Toms Hardware
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