Here are those manufacturers which provide you the 1TB storage capacity on their memory cards:

• SanDisk
• PNY Technologies
• Lexar
• TeamGroup
• Silicon Power

According to SD Association, SDXC’s highest capacity can go up to 2TB. However, we have yet to see any maker supplying this capacity in the market. 

The majority of the card makers still supplying 512GB in the market, only a tiny portion started introducing 1TB in their product line-up.

Why Need 1TB SD Card?

As more people are creating their own video using personal portable devices, the need to store and share this content become imminent.

With technological advancement, creating 4K video has become mainstream and this will require larger storage capacity. Typically, for a 128GB memory card, it can store around 40min ~ 5 hours of 4K video, depending on the characteristics of the video file.

If you have a lot of video files, a larger SD or microSD card is a better choice. The demand for higher capacity SD/microSD cards is trending up yearly. 

Privacy is another reason people choose to use SD cards to store their video and photo files. Although cloud storage allows you to conveniently transfer your file to the cloud and retrieve it anywhere, it may not be as secure and private as an SD card.

Internet connection may be down or unstable at your location. Hackers may access your file on the cloud and service providers may use your file for unauthorized usage. 

New applications like 360 viewings, drone surveying, VR and AR gaming, and AI assist mission tasks are high usage of storage capacity. 

The miniaturization of devices also driving the demand for expansion of memory storage on the microSD card. These tiny little devices are getting more powerful and sophisticated in terms of capturing live data in 3D and moving pictures. Higher resolution will require a larger capacity to store the data.

Newer Gaming device like Nintendo Switch has expanded their card acceptance up to 2TB. This has prompted many SD card manufacturers to increase their storage capacity further. We expect to see more of them increase their capacity from 512GB to 1TB and gradually move to 2TB in the next 2~3 years. 

5 Best SD Card Makers Supplying 1TB Currently

(1) SanDisk

SanDisk is one of the founders of the SD Association that set all the memory card standards. Thus, you can trust the quality, reliability, and performance of its cards.

Here are the various types of 1TB card offering from SanDisk:

• SanDisk Extreme microSDXC UHS-I Card 1TB – this model has 1TB capacity and has high speed performance at video speed V30, UHS-I bus interface, UHS speed class 3, Application Performance class 2. You can get it from SanDisk store, B&H Photo or Amazon link here (being Amazon Associate, we get small commission from Amazon at no cost to you, if you buy from the link).
• SanDisk Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Card 1TB – having speed class 10, Application Performance Class A2, UHS speed class 1, UHS-I bus interface. In term of transfer speed, this Ultra series is slower than Extreme series. 
• SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDXC UHS-I 1TB – spec consists of UHS-I bus interface, UHS speed class 3, Video speed V30, A2 Application Performance.
• SanDisk Extreme Pro SDXC UHS-I Card 1TB – can perform per specification of video class V30, UHS class 3, UHS-I bus interface, speed class 10 with transfer speed up to 170MB/s

SanDisk offers 3 series of cards for you to use:

• Ultra series – this type of card offer reading speed up to 120MB/s and suitable for Full HD recording
• Extreme series – this series has reading speed of 150MB/s and best use for 4K UHD application
• Extreme Pro series – the best of the 3 series allows reading speed up to 300MB/s and good for 8K UHD video production

(2) PNY Technologies

Many people may not know about PNY Technologies which was established in the USA in 1985. It manufactures flash memory cards, USB flash drives, SSD, graphics cards, and many other IT products. 

PNY also helps HP manufacture its Flash Drives, SD, and microSD cards.  The product reliability and performance have been outstanding throughout these years.

Below are the 2 types of 1TB from PNY Technologies:

• PNY Pro Elite 1TB microSD – This is a Class 10, UHS class 3, Video speed V30 microSDXC card. Featuring Application performance A2 class with UHS-I bus interface, suitable for shooting continuous 4K Ultra HD video at 4096×3072 format.
• PNY Pro Elite SD card – Similar spec as above but with standard SD form factor. It allows professional to capture high quality content on DSLR & HD-enabled video cameras. 

(3) Lexar

Lexar is a global brand of memory solutions for more than 20 years. It was founded in the USA and was acquired by Micron Technology in 2006 and subsequently merged with Crucial Technology. 

From August 2017, Lexar was acquired by Chinese company Longsys in Shenzhen, China which specializes in flash memory products.

Currently, Lexar offers one 1TB SD card solution:

• Lexar PLAY 1TB microSDXC UHS-I card – This card is compatible with Nintendo Switch and has the spec of video class V30, Application performance class A2 and UHS speed class 3.

(4) TeamGroup

TeamGroup is a Taiwan-based company specializing in memory products since 1997. Its T-Force Gaming products are very popular among gamers.

There are 2 kinds of 1TB memory cards introduced by TeamGroup so far. Both are:

• TeamGroup Elite MicroSDXC UHS-I Card – This Elite Card support 4K Ultra-HD high-definition and execute programs quickly and smoothly. It has features like video class V30, UHS speed class 3, Application performance 1 and UHS-I bus interface.
• TeamGroup GO 4K MicroSDXC UHS-I Sports Photography Card – This GO Card is specially designed for sports photography cameras. It supports 4K high-definition photography and has excellent transmission performance. It has video class V30, UHS-I and conforming to UHS Speed Class 3 (U3) speed. 

(5) Silicon Power

Headquartered in Taiwan, Silicon Power was founded in 2003 to provide data storage solutions to the IT industry. It has delivered many outstanding products, including various kinds of memory cards.

Here is the 1TB memory card from Silicon Power:

• Silicon Power Superior 1TB microSDXC card – This card has the UHS speed class 3 feature, Application performance Class 1, with Video Speed Class V30 and UHS-I bus interface. Very suitable for 4K Ultra HD video recording.

Table Summarize the 5 SD Cards Features

Types of Memory Cards	Read Speed	Write Speed	Application Performance	Speed Class	UHS Speed Class	Video Speed Class	Bus Interface
SanDisk Extreme microSDXC	160MB/s	90MB/s	A2	C10	U3	V30	UHS-I
SanDisk Ultra microSDXC	120MB/s	50MB/s	A1	C10	U1	V10	UHS-I
SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDXC	170MB/s	90MB/s	A2	C10	U3	V30	UHS-I
SanDisk Extreme Pro SDXC	170MB/s	90MB/s		C10	U3	V30	UHS-I
PNY Pro Elite microSDXC	100MB/s	90MB/s	A2	C10	U3	V30	UHS-I
PNY Pro Elite SDXC	100MB/s	90MB/s		C10	U3	V30	UHS-I
Lexar PLAY microSDXC	150MB/s	150MB/s	A2		U3	V30	UHS-I
TeamGroup Elite microSDXC	100MB/s	50MB/s	A1		U3	V30	UHS-I
TeamGroup GO 4K microSDXC	100MB/s	50MB/s			U3	V30	UHS-I
Silicon Power Superior microSDXC	100MB/s	80MB/s	A1		U3	V30	UHS-I

New SDUC Spec allow capacity increase to 128TB

The Secure Digital Ultra Capacity (SDUC) introduced by the SD Association in its SD 7.0 specification can support memory cards capacity to 128TB. The technologies behind memory fabrication and manufacturing have become more sophisticated and advanced. 

With new applications like AI, VR, AR, 3D, 5G, Ultra-high resolution video production, 360-degree photography shooting, more video files are created by individuals so the demand for these devices will drive up and require a different approach 

As consumers and businesses increasingly produce 4K/8K video, more storage capacity is needed. A typical 8K video will consume about 100GB of memory storage for a 2-hour movie. To maintain the quality of the original video, it is advisable not to do any compression, thus larger storage space is required.

SDUC specification is full of forward-looking vision. With 3D NAND Flash memory capable of stacking multiple layers of tiny chips on each other, storing multiple TB of data on a memory card has become possible. This will create a very exciting future, with the metaverse evolution taking shape from now on. 

Are you excited about the new future with your imagination going into Virtual Reality? It is really up to your imagination. As long as humans can imagine, there is a possibility out there. 

SD Card Buying Guide

• before you get your favorite card, make sure your host device is compatible with the SD card you are buying. Some of the host devices still have lower spec than the card you intend to use. 
• You may consider buying lower capacity card to spread your risk. For example getting 2x512GB microSD card instead of 1x1TB microSDXC card. In case one card faulty, you still have one spare to use and data retent. 
• get name-brand like SanDisk, Samsung, Kingston, Lexar, Gigastore. These are the establish brands which have stringent in-house testing before they release out to the market.
• Speed of the card is also important when come to large file transfer. It will shorten the file transfer and copy time.
• For High-definition video recording like 4K Ultra HD, consider using card with higher writing speed. It is recommened to use card with minimum writing speed of 30MB/s. Therefore, choose card with UHS class 3 and video class with at least V30. 

Knowing what to read and understand the specification of an SD card is important when buying the card you need. Below are those technologies apply on the card:

(1) Speed Class – There are 4 different speed classes consisting of Class 2, 4, 6, and 10. Each represents how many MB/s according to the number assigned.

(2) Video Class – 5 levels of video class starting from V6, V10, V30, V60, and V90 indicating the minimum writing speed in MB/s.

(3) UHS Speed Class – Two classes with U3 faster than U1. The speed is derived by multiplying the number by 10MB/s.

(4) Application Performance – There are 2 classes of Application Performance defined by the SD Association. A1 Class is defined by SD Physical 5.1 specification, whereas A2 Class is defined by SD Physical 6.0 specification and has much higher performance than A1 by using functions of Command Queuing and Cache. 

(5) UHS Bus Interface – Currently there are UHS-I and UHS-II in the market. UHS-II comes with 2 rows of connectors/pins. Using 2 lanes for data transfer, the 1st lane is assigned for the downstream direction (host to card) and the 2nd lane is used for an upstream direction (from card to host).

In Summary

The demand for larger SD card memory storage comes along with the evolution of human needs and technological advancement. As the content creation becomes more sophisticated, larger space for its storage and the speed of accessing and processing this content get more critical. 

You no more need to carry many SD cards with you. With just one 1TB SD card, all your essential information and data is with you. No more worry about data get stolen by others in the cloud. Everything is in your hand within the SD card you carry with.

No more worry about internet connection. No concern on the data plan. You can work anywhere you like.

We hope you enjoy our research on the current 1TB SD card in the market and find one which meets your needs. We will continue to monitor the progress of memory technologies and share those new products with you.

Feel free to check out more of our content on this website. You may want to explore other types of memory storage like SSD.