Look on this 512GB microSD card, ye Mighty, and despair!

Human endeavour has reached dizzying new heights with the creation of a 512GB microSD card, forged by UK company Integral Memory.

The memorably titled 512GB microSDXC V10 UHS-I U1 card has a record-breaking capacity, beating the mere 400GB of SanDisk MicroSD card – which was unveiled as recently as September 2017.

The 512GB card has a maximum transfer speed of 80MB/s, and is designed to increase the storage of Android phones and tablets, as well as devices like DSLR cameras and drones.

But cloud storage, you cry, makes such vast capacities defunct! Memory cards of such girth are nout but projects of the sheerest vanity! Mais non, dear reader. The increasing quality of phone cameras and 4K video makes internal storage more important than ever; at least, this is what Integral Memory argues:

“Consumers have been clear in their call for increased storage, as mobile devices have become essential to many in everyday life,” said James Danton, marketing manager for the company. “The need to provide extended memory for smartphones, tablets and a growing range of other mobile devices such as action cams and drones has been answered.”

It’s a fine time for storage options. Sandisk recently unveiled the world’s smallest 1TB flash drive, although has yet to talk about the device’s release date or price. Integral Memory’s 512GB card will go on sale in February, but again there’s been no word yet on price. For context, SanDisk’s 400GB card sells for around £220 on Amazon, so we’d expect it to be somewhere above this.

Samsung is working on a 512GB embedded Universal Flash Storage chip, consisting of eight 64-layer 512GB V-NAND chips stacked on top of each other, as well as a controller chip. Mass production has reportedly begun, suggesting we may see the high-capacity chips in the next generation of Samsung smartphones.