It has finally happened now: an SD card has now broken the 1 terabyte threshold. SanDisk has unveiled the biggest SD card in the world, it is a prototype card with an outrageous 1 terabyte of memory. The new 1TB capacity is just a prototype for now, meaning there is not pricing or availability date yet, but the company has launched a 512GB version for $800, so it is likely to be expensive whenever it does land. But you get more storage space than typically ships with the base configuration of the most home computers, so premium pricing is to be expected.
This card is aimed at the growing number of 4K cameras, 360-degree cameras for VR and also anticipates the launch of 8K cameras. Well, that may be some way out, but cameras are already moving to 4K at 60fps, which will eat up even more storage and 6K seems to be on the horizon too.
SanDisk 1 terabyte
This amount of storage is becoming necessary with flagship cameras from the likes of Canon, Nikon, Sony and now Fujifilm’s medium format camera all featuring 50-megapixel sensors. What’s more, 4K and 8K video capture along with 360-degree footage is already pushing the current storage standards to their limits.
The company hasn’t shared read or write speeds, probably because they are not going to be amazing on such a high capacity card, especially when it’s in the prototype stage.
Sixteen years ago, SanDisk unveiled its first 64MB SD card. Soon we’ll be able to store 1 terabyte. The card itself is pretty much small, but somehow memory card manufacturer are managing to cram even more storage into the familiar form factor.