Apple and Samsung don’t think phones need microSD cards – but is external storage still vital for users?
- In the days of the cloud and growing internal storage, more new phones are being released without the option of external storage
- But with videos in high 4K quality quickly causing 128GB to fill up, losing the additional SD card space has some worried
Samsung raised eyebrows in the tech scene earlier this year by cutting the microSD card slot from its new Galaxy S21 Ultra flagship smartphone.
While many smartphone users collectively shrugged, others were outraged. After all, the option to plug in an external SD (secure digital) is a vital feature for those who like taking lots of photos and downloading films.
But do you really need an external SD card in the days of the cloud and growing internal storage?
Companies like Samsung and Apple don’t think so. In fact, smartphone analysts predict future phones will be entirely portless, and Samsung’s decision to kill the microSD card port may just be another sign of a trend towards only internal storage on phones.
Of course, most phones will still let you up your maximum storage with an additional memory card – for now.
In principle, however, experts tend to recommend using the inbuilt memory over an external microSD card. This is because apps often cannot be installed on the card and because internal memory is much faster and more reliable.
