Announced at CES 2016, the A1 Class extended capacity 256GB microSD and the same sized USB flash drive were the two storage modules launched by SanDisk.
The new 256GB USB 3.1 is the solid state flash drive that is claimed to be the world’s fastest and highest capacity flash drive in its category. The drive offers read speeds up to 420MB per second and write speeds up to 380MB/s. According to claims, the new USB flash drive is fast enough to transfer an entire full-length 4K movie in 15 seconds.
Along side, the company also announced the 256GB Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition memory card. The new UHS-I card is designed to meet the A1 performance standards for expansion smartphone storage. In addition to store photos and videos, the apps will be stored in and run from the card efficiently.
According to claims, the new memory card will achieve transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s. The card will provide capacity to store up to 24 hours of 1080p Full HD movie.
As far as the A1 performance standard is concerend. MicroSD cards with this performance grade should be able to handle random read input-output access per second (aka IOPS) of 1500 and a write IOPS of 500. So according to SanDisk, this memory card is suitable for storing apps and it will handle in-app permissions, graphics and audio, and save profiles.
It appears that the company was more focused to support Android platform to give consumers easy access to extend their smartphone storage since Marshmallow supported the feature of using fast microSD cards default storage option.
The card will be available worldwide in January 2017 for $199.99. The new 256GB SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive will be available in late January 2017 at Amazon.com and Best Buy for $179.99.
Update 23-01-2017: 256GB microSDXC card is now available from Amazon and BestBuy. The Extreme Pro USB 3.1 is available fore pre-order while the drive will be available from February 1st, 2017.
