SD Card stands for “Secure Digital Card”. There are a lot of MicroSD Cards are available of the same capacity at different prices. They have differences in price because of their speed. You can see C, U, A, and many more symbols that resembles Speed Class. You have to understand these Speed before buying any Card.
Here is the SD Card buying guide to help you which is the best for you. We have explained some of the major types and various Speed Class.
SD Card Format
- microSD: Capacity up to 2GB.
- microSDHC: Capacity of 4GB to 32GB.
- microSDXC: Capacity of 64GB to 2TB.
- microSDUC: Capacity of more than 2TB to 128TB.
Maximum Read Speed
This is the maximum read speed of an SD card given in Megabytes per second (MB/s).
SD Card Speed Class
This is an older speed class rating. It is redundant of the UHS speed class, but many card manufacturers include it, as well. For Example, class 10 (C10) will never write slower than 10 MB/s.
| CLASS | MINIMUM SPEED |
|---|---|
| C2 | 2 MB/s |
| C4 | 4 MB/s |
| C6 | 6 MB/s |
| C8 | 8 MB/s |
| C10 | 10 MB/s |
UHS Ultra High Speed Class
This is the minimum sustained write speed of an SD card, for Example, UHS Speed Class 1 (U1) or C10 cards will never write slower than 10 MB/s.
| UHS CLASS | MINIMUM SPEED |
|---|---|
| U1 | 10 MB/s |
| U3 | 30 MB/s |
SD Card Video Speed Class
This is the minimum write speed For video recording. This another speed class is called the V class. The higher the resolution your video, the faster speed you need.
| CLASS | MINIMUM SPEED |
|---|---|
| V6 | 6 MB/s |
| V10 | 10 MB/s |
| V30 | 30 MB/s |
| V60 | 60 MB/s |
| V90 | 90 MB/s |
App Performance Class
The Application Performance Class specifies a minimum sustained write speed of 10MBps, along with a minimum random read and write speeds measured in input/output operations per second (IOPS). This guarantees an acceptable level of performance when storing and running applications on your SD card on Android.
| Class | Min. Write Speed | Min. Random Read | Min. Random Write | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | 10MB/s | 1500 IOPS | 500 IOPS | Editing and updating app data, not just storage |
| A2 | 10MB/s | 4000 IOPS | 2000 IOPS | Higher performance, special uses |
Comparison of all Speed Class
| Speed Class | Min. Write Speed | UHS Speed Class | Video Speed Class | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 2 (C2) | 2MB/s | SD recording and playback | ||
| Class 4 (C4) | 4MB/s | 720p/1080p video | ||
| Class 6 (C6) | 6MB/s | Video Class 6 (V6) | 720p/1080p, some 4K video | |
| Class 10 (C10) | 10MB/s | UHS Class 1 (U1) | Video Class 10 (V10) | 720p/1080p/4K video |
| 30MB/s | UHS Class 3 (U3) | Video Class 30 (V30) | 1080p/4K video @ 60/120fps | |
| 60MB/s | Video Class 60 (V60) | 8K video @ 60/120fps | ||
| 90MB/s | Video Class 90 (V90) | 8K video @ 60/120fps |
Practical Capacity
| CAPACITY (GB) | HOURS OF MP3 MUSIC | PHOTOS (12MP JPEG) | PHOTOS (20MP JPEG) | PHOTOS (20MP RAW) | 720p HD VIDEO RECORDING (9 MBPS) | 1080p FULL HD VIDEO RECORDING (13 MBPS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 270 | 3800 | 2660 | 260 | 240mins | 160mins |
| 32 | 545 | 7600 | 5330 | 520 | 480mins | 320mins |
| 64 | 1090 | 15200 | 10660 | 1040 | 960mins | 640mins |
| 128 | 2145 | 30400 | 21320 | 2080 | 1920mins | 1280mins |
Best Brands
There are lot of brands but we will only suggest only two brands that aare Samsung and SanDisk.
Hand Picked SD Cards for you
Best MicroSD (16GB) ₹350:
Best MicroSD (32GB) ₹500
- SanDisk: https://amzn.to/2DoLO0U
- Samsung: https://amzn.to/30klpub
Best MicroSD (64GB) ₹800
- SanDisk: https://amzn.to/318XrRP
- Samsung: https://amzn.to/33oKKoy
Best MicroSD (128GB) ₹1,500
- SanDisk: https://amzn.to/3fgEFwN
- Samsung: https://amzn.to/3fkxZxK
Best SD Card (32GB)
- 90MBps:https://amzn.to/2DtaUvu
- (Pro) 95MBps: https://amzn.to/30kaIb7
Best SD Card (64GB)
- 150MBps: https://amzn.to/3k5wpDq
- (Pro) 170 MBps: https://amzn.to/2DdNDy3
Best SD Card (128GB)
- 150MBps: https://amzn.to/2DoNlEc
- (Pro) 170MBps: https://amzn.to/39Mnl1L