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Ten years ago, we were happy with microSD cards on mobile phones. The manufacturers have killed them for a good reason

Far was that time when buying a MicroSD card It was practically an essential for our mobile phone. The mobiles from ten years ago They came with a scarce internal memory (8, 16 GB), insufficient for devices that, despite their limitations at the hardware level, recorded Full HD video and had an ecosystem rich in applications.

Today, it is increasingly difficult to find devices compatible with this memory expansion. And, yes, this is good news.

The golden age of the microSD. There was a time in using an SD was the best possible option on an Android mobile. In fact, the operating system itself allowed to move some of the apps to external memories, releasing the local memory of this load. In 2010, Android 2.2 Froyo He had this option as a native from the adjustments, something that remained immovable until years later.

The key was that Android was a much more insecure system than is now. In fact, with Android 6.0 It was possible to expand system storage using microSD cards.

The party is over. There are two milestones that mark the progressive disappearance of MicroSD cards on Android. The first is the Popularization of Unibody mobiles: The end of the removable housings. The extra groove to incorporate the SD next to the SIM (or double SIM) hinders stagnant designs, somewhat incompatible with the Current IP protocols They protect the water and dust device.

The second reason is imposed by Google with Android, and that is that the operating system was progressively restricting the permissions until they prevent them from moving apps to the SD, limiting it only to the passage of files.

Reading speed. As internal memory modules have been improving progressively, reading and writing speed has shot in recent years. A UHS-1 micro SD around 200 MB/s reading speed (speeds that are never reached). EMMC’s most modern standards (slower technology in internal memories, only used in low range) can double this figure.

If we talk about UFS memories, standards such as UFS 2.2 around real writing speeds close to GB, something that doubles with UFS 3.1 and almost quadruplica with UFS 4.0. Next to nothing. The size of the apps has increased considerably in recent years, as well as their requirements, and moving them from an SD is not too realistic.

The focus on security. By default, the memory of any commercialized Android mobile comes encrypted, something that protects the local data of the device. SD memories do not come with this protection layer, nor do they meet the requirements to do so.

Android is an increasingly sure system And, according to the latest data, it is exposed to 90% less malware than in 2016 thanks to the Play Protect scanguaranteed windows of security patches, Automatic reset and constant purge of fraudulent applications in Play Storeamong others.

The microSD today. Although relegated in general terms to low -cost mobiles, The MicroSD continues to give a dummy In 2025. If your mobile has support for them, you can continue moving simple apps such as Telegram or Instagram (giants such as WhatsApp do not allow it), and even some games allow you to send part of your reading data to the SD.

The same goes for multimedia: nothing prevents us from saving and reproducing content from a microSD card externally. The limitation of speed and stability (if you use a low quality microSD) will be present, but the function has not died at all.

A necessary evil. Smartphones manufacturers and Google itself have been closing the door to microSD cards. It is a evil necessary to improve the stability of the system, to make Android a safer platform and continue allowing the apps to grow (in size and requirements) to the frantic rhythm to which hardware evolves.

Image | Samsung

In Xataka | It is 2024 and I still use an SD card on my mobile: what can I do and what is different about the storage of my phone

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