After testing the latest PRO Plus range earlier this year, the all-new Samsung PRO Ultimate range of microSD cards was revealed late last month, and now it’s time to give our thoughts. The new range presents itself as the brand’s fastest consumer memory card. out there, offering the best value for money options from other storage brands at remarkable prices. We’ve had the opportunity to test the 256GB model with the USB card reader for a few weeks, and now we’re ready to give you some impressions as part of the latest Tested with 9to5Toys goodbye.
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Practical with the new Samsung PRO Ultimate microSD memory cards
Samsung PRO Ultimate microSD cards are at the top of the brand’s range. Over the past few years, we’ve seen next-generation models for its PRO Plus and PRO Endurance lines; However, the PRO Ultimate marks a whole new level for the brand.
Available in the usual capacities of 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB, they boast speeds of 200 MB/s read and 130 MB/s write, making them the fastest in Samsung’s range. In addition to a 10-year warranty, they also offer Samsung’s six-level protection against water, dust, wear, x-rays, extreme temperatures, and more.
The Samsung PRO Ultimate card offers best-in-class speed within the UHS-I interface which enables the rapid transfer of a large number of files with its fast speeds. The Samsung PRO Ultimate card is built with Samsung’s highly reliable and advanced V-NAND flash memory that achieves ultra-fast speeds. The card features a new controller that improves its power efficiency and reliability. The card is perfect for people who use memory cards to record video using cameras or drones and for gamers who need to expand the storage of their portable gaming console.
The new cards are available alone or with the included USB 3.0 drive you see featured in this review and start from $20 Prime shipped at the time of writing.
Here’s a closer look at the specs:
- Read and write speeds up to 200/130 MB/s
- 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB capacities
- Available with/without USB 3.0 drive
- UHS Video Speed Class 30 (V30)
- A2 performance is 4000 read IOPS, 2000 write IOPS
- Waterproof: resists up to 72 hours in sea water
- Temperature Resistant: Operating temperatures from -13°F to 185°F
- Wear: up to 10,000 passes
- X-ray resistant: up to 100 mGy
- Magnetic proof: up to 15,000 gauss
- Drop: Withstands drops up to 16.4 feet (5 meters)
- 10-year limited warranty
Take from 9to5Toys
Samsung has pushed the limits with its new PRO Ultimate range in terms of speed. Last time, during our hands-on review of the latest big version of the brand’s microSD line (the latest generation PRO Plus models), we saw marginal speed increases over the previous generation PRO Plus line. It was clearly a slight generational improvement in terms of performance, but this time around, Samsung introduced a new family of models with the PRO Ultimate line.
Before their arrival, SanDisk offered the market a slightly faster option than the PRO Plus with its 190 MB/s models, but the PRO Ultimate takes it up a notch to 200 MB/s. But that’s just on the side reading things.
It’s admittedly a bit disappointing that its all-new flagship microSD cards write at the same speed as the PRO Plus line. While there is almost always a difference in up and down speeds on just about any storage media, there is something about having the same write speeds on what should be the model less premium which seems a bit disappointing.
However, the price isn’t much higher, and the PRO Ultimate line can read 20MB/s faster and is still comparable to or faster than most major brand options. It just would have been nice to see a complete performance upgrade across the board here instead of the somewhat mild incremental bumps we’ve seen over the last year or so.
I’m happy to report that the performance isn’t just nominal. They do indeed run faster than the PRO Plus model I have here at the office, according to my testing with an OWC 11-port Thunderbolt 4 hub and a MacBook Pro, but not by much.
Ultimately, the Samsung PRO Ultimate line of microSD cards are a solid choice if you ask me. It does indeed deliver flagship performance, although we all wish Samsung would have pushed the boundaries a bit more here, and it offers broad compatibility with a range of different apps and devices. Just like previous models, deals are plentiful and there are plenty of opportunities to get one or more of these for well below asking prices (we’ve already featured price drops on these relatively new releases) via official listings from Amazon. Given the popularity of Samsung cards here and the fact that you can and will be able to get these newer, faster models for almost the same price as the PRO Plus variants on a relatively regular basis, it’s hard not to simply recommend them. about everything you will discover there.
Buy the new Samsung PRO Ultimate microSD cards
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