Electronics manufacturer PNY will be officially announcing the world’s first consumer-ready microSD card with a capacity of 512GB next week, having scheduled its debut for the latest iteration of Computex Taipei, an annual Taiwanese trade show centered on computer technologies. The PNY microSD Elite 512GB will be introduced in the form of a microSDXC Class 10 offering with U1 ratings (which are below A1 certificates) and data transfer rates of up to 90MB/s. While far from the fastest external memory solution on the market, the card will debut as a gadget specifically aimed at consumers who want to maximize their portable storage options.
SanDisk is still leading the segment with its 400GB microSDXC card but as far as mobile products are concerned, many contemporary smartphones — even ultra-premium flagships — still aren’t capable of reading solutions with capacities north of 256GB. An up-to-date list of handsets compatible with up to 2TB of external storage also doesn’t exist because even those that have those capabilities rarely have their manufacturers advertise such a feature given how consumers still aren’t able to take advantage of it, which e.g. AndroidHeadlines confirmed to be the case with the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus earlier this year. PNY’s upcoming offering will likely see more use in DSLRs than smartphones and gadgets like the Nintendo Switch given its somewhat average speeds, though it’s still expected to cost a premium. PNY should announce its pricing and availability details during its Computex conference, with the trade show itself running from Thursday to Saturday, June 5 through June 9.
The same event will also see the introduction of a new Android gaming smartphone launching as part of the ASUS ROG brand, with the Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer already confirming as much. HTC is the only major tech giant from the Far Eastern country that isn’t expected to make any major consumer electronics-related announcements at this year’s Computex.