GoKawiilSanDisk has quietly introduced a 2TB version of its Extreme Pro UHS-II SD card, with the company boasting an up to 310 MB/s sequential read performance and 305 MB/s sequential write performance. This is an expensive memory card, though, with the SD card costing a staggering $1,999.99 on Amazon, a more than four-fold increase versus the lower-tier 2TB Extreme Pro UHS-I SD Card and a sign of the challenging times facing the storage industry. However, it does offer higher sequential read performance and more than double the sequential write performance of the more affordable 2TB memory card, which you can pick up for less than $500.
This memory card is specifically designed for professional videographers and photographers, especially those who shoot 8K footage or require high-resolution burst photography. While microSD Express Cards deliver better performance because of their use of modern PCIe and NVMe technology, most digital cameras still use the older SD standard, meaning users won’t be able to enjoy the higher speeds that the newer standard affords. Despite having inferior performance, the 2TB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II is still more expensive than the SanDisk microSD Express card on a per GB basis. The 512GB SanDisk microSD Express only costs $119.99, meaning you’re paying $0.23 per GB.
By comparison, the 2TB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II SD card costs approximately $1.00 per GB. Unfortunately, this rings true for the entire lineup:
Swipe to scroll horizontally Memory Card Price Price/GB 2TB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II SD card $1,999.99 $0.98 512GB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II SD Card $499.99 $0.98 256GB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II SD Card $279.99 $1.09 128GB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II SD Card $199.99 $1.56 512GB SanDisk microSD Express Card $119.99 $0.23 2TB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I SDXC Card $440.00 $0.21 512GB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I SDXC Card $169.99 $0.33 256GB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I SDXC Card $92.99 $0.36 128GB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-I SDXC Card $51.99 $0.41
The SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II SD card comes with a few extra features that you won’t find on lower-tier cards, like an IP68 environmental protection rating, as well as having been proven to withstand drops of up to 6 meters or nearly 20 feet. So, if you frequently shoot at high resolutions, the speed bump that this $2,000 SD card might be well worth the investment — but for every other user, this is likely too much, and you’re better off getting a more affordable but slightly slower alternative.
Although the speed and capacity of the memory card are pushing up the price, the current memory and storage chip shortage is also likely making it more expensive to manufacture SD cards. Because of this, some companies focus on premium products that have a higher retail price, allowing them to offset their increased costs. We can also see this with SD cards from competing manufacturers like Lexar and Kingston that have similar specifications coming in at comparable prices.
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