Samsung’s 1TB Pro Plus microSD Card is on sale for a new all-time low price at Amazon as part of the retailer’s Big Spring Sale. Normally $120, the 1TB Pro Plus is discounted to only $80. If you really like Sonic the Hedgehog, you can get the same 1TB card with Sonic’s face emblazoned on it for $90 (was $126). Speedy and reliable–we’re talking about the microSD card, not Sonic–the Pro Plus is one of the best options for expanding the storage space on your Steam Deck or handheld PC. But since Samsung only entered the 1TB microSD market last summer, we haven’t seen as many steep discounts on these cards as we have on SanDisk’s popular cards.
Alternatively, you can grab Samsung’s 1TB Evo Select microSD for $70. This price matches the card’s all-time low, whereas the previous low price for the Pro Plus was $90. The Evo Select is up to 20MB/s slower than the Pro Plus, but it’s still a great card for Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck as well as handhelds running Windows or Android.
Both of these 1TB Samsung cards have U3 ratings (Ultra-High Speed Class 3). These are high performance cards with fast enough speeds to write and read 4K video. Either of these cards will work great with your Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch, too. The Pro Plus offers a moderate bump in read speed, as it’s capable of reaching 180MB/s versus the Evo Select’s 160MB/s–but this won’t be noticeable on Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck when it comes to game performance.
With Amazon’s current deals, the Samsung cards are five bucks less than each model’s SanDisk counterpart. The SanDisk Ultra 1TB–the most popular microSD card–is on sale for $75 and offers read and transfer speeds up to 150MB/s–10MB/s slower than the Evo Select. The SanDisk Extreme 1TB, on the other hand, is 10MB/s faster than the Pro Plus, as offers up to 190MB/s read speeds.
When it comes to storage devices, a big part of why it’s generally advisable to opt for established brands like SanDisk and Samsung is reliability over long periods of time. No one likes to lose their data. Admittedly, if you’re only storing video games on your microSD, this isn’t nearly as big of a deal–unless the corrupted data contains save files you spent dozens or hundreds of hours building. Backing up saves is always a good idea.
But while we’d typically recommend Samsung or SanDisk, there are solid microSD cards from budget manufacturers, too. During Amazon’s Spring Sale, the most notable alternatives are made by Lexar. The 1TB Lexar Play is on sale for only $64 and offers up to 160MB/s read speeds. Lexar says the upgraded model of the Lexar Play, which was designed with gaming in mind, has max read speeds of 205MB/s. The Lexar Play 1TB (205MB/s) model is on sale for $88.
