Is the Samsung P9 Express worth it for Nintendo Switch 2?
Worth it, but only if your device speaks the same language
Why new Switch 2 games load so slowly on old memory cards
Picture the load screen on a new Switch 2 title, the spinner just sitting there while the console drags gigabytes off the little card in the slot. If you've felt that wait, you're bumping into a wall that has nothing to do with your internet or your patience: your old microSD card simply cannot move data fast enough for what these games ask of it. That's the gap the Samsung P9 Express is built to close, and the question is whether it's worth paying for the fix.
How microSD Express actually moves data faster
Here's the part the box doesn't spell out. Every microSD card until now spoke the same old UHS-I language, a data bus capped at roughly 100 MB/s no matter how good the flash memory inside is. The P9 Express switches the entire conversation: it's built on the microSD Express standard, which talks over PCIe and NVMe, the same protocol your computer's internal SSD uses. That's the actual reason it can hit 800 MB/s read speeds, four times what a standard UHS-I card manages, it's not faster memory, it's a faster road for the memory to travel on. For you, that shows up as shorter load screens and quicker installs when you're pulling a 40GB download onto the console instead of a slow trickle. Moving that much data that fast also generates heat, which is why Samsung built in Dynamic Thermal Guard, a way of managing the card's temperature so sustained sessions don't throttle speed halfway through a long gaming stretch. It's also why this card only makes sense paired with a device built to speak the same new protocol, older consoles and older readers still talk the slower UHS-I language regardless of what card you hand them.
So you're not really buying storage capacity here, you're buying the bus the storage rides on. Any card can hold your games, only a handful can move them fast enough that Switch 2 stops making you wait. Whether that's worth it comes down to one thing: does your device actually speak the faster language, because if it doesn't, you've bought a highway nobody's driving on.
Who the Samsung P9 Express is for, and who should skip it
Worth it if
- You own a Nintendo Switch 2 and want it to load like an Express card is supposed to
- You store a large library of games and DLC and don't want to juggle cards
- You want a card built to survive drops, water, and heat on the go
Skip it if
- Your console or device only reads standard UHS-I microSD cards
- You mainly need bulk storage for photos or video and don't need the extra speed
- You want the absolute cheapest card that fits the slot
It's not for anyone still on the original Switch, a camera, or a Steam Deck, none of those devices can use the faster protocol you're paying for.
The Samsung P9 Express verdict: is it worth it
If you own a Switch 2 and hate waiting through load screens, this is a quiet yes, it does exactly the one thing it promises. If you're shopping for a Steam Deck, a drone, or an older Switch that only reads UHS-I, save the money and buy a plain microSDXC card, you won't see the extra speed and you'll pay for a highway you can't use.
Amazon shoppers rate it 4.7 out of 5 across 2,009 ratings. That is their number, not ours.
Before you go
Does the Samsung P9 Express work on the original Nintendo Switch?
Yes, it's backward compatible with UHS-I devices including the original Switch, but you'll only see standard UHS-I speeds since that console doesn't support the Express protocol.
Do I need microSD Express, or will a cheaper UHS-I card work for Switch 2?
A standard UHS-I card will fit and function, but it can't move data fast enough to eliminate the loading delays that microSD Express is built to fix on Switch 2.
Full spec sheet
| Flash Memory Type | Micro SDXC |
|---|---|
| Memory Storage Capacity | 256 GB |
| Compatible Devices | Camera, Gaming Console, Nintendo Switch 2, Personal Computer, Steam Deck |
| Additional Features | Drop Proof, Magnetic Proof, Temperature Proof, Water Proof, X Ray Proof, microSD Expres… |
| Read Speed | 800 megabytes_per_second |
| Media Speed | 100-200 MB/s |
| Hardware Connectivity | microSDXC |
| Secure Digital Association Speed Class | Class 10 |
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