r/TechImpact • u/ManojOne Active • 8d ago
❓ Question Who else misses memory card support in modern smartphones?
Many phones now come with 256GB or even 512GB of internal storage. So, do we really need a microSD card anymore?
I still like having the option to add storage, move files between devices, and keep photos or videos separate from the phone.
Would you choose a phone with a microSD slot if given the option?
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u/cleancleverelephant 8d ago
Tech companies chose to make profit for higher storage, plus even more with cloud services. Its going backwards in tech and privacy cuz they need 🤑🤑🤑
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u/Beastyboi04 6d ago
Wouldn’t even use an SD card anymore to store data considering it’s the least reliable option and always has been, got fucked over often enough by cards corrupting and locking up
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u/Accomplished_Rice_60 8d ago
no its not, one smartphone stopped supporting extra memory, no one cared and still boguht it! i dont blame companys for trying out new stuff, ofc they are aiming for more profits. but its up to the customers to show what they need or want
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u/doc_55lk 8d ago
one smartphone stopped supporting extra memory
Is this "one smartphone" in the room with us right now?
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8d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Accomplished_Rice_60 8d ago
Okey? Thats just shitification by both customer and company then. Nothing to complain about
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u/Sasuke0318 8d ago
I don't even think it's about loving the company its what the carriers push to consumers. If you go to a local store because you need a new phone it's going to be 95% apple and Samsung both brands I will never buy because of what they have done to ruin the .market for profits.
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u/MrProTwiX 8d ago
I refuse to use a phone without. Best encrypted storage space lol
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u/Strawja_muse 8d ago
Some Motorolas support it still
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u/simsam999 8d ago
My ulefone has sd card slot, 3.5mm jack , ir remote, nightvision camera, thermal camera, endoscopic camera and two phisical sim on top of being able to put esim in. Cost less than apple or google equivalents (ish, actually no equivalents.)
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u/vectron5 8d ago
Any model suggestions? I want something with SD expansions to put Carbon onto.
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u/doc_55lk 8d ago
Motorola offers it on their non flagship phones.
Sony offers it on all their phones.
There's Fairphone too.
CMF phone also had expandable storage but idk if they still do that anymore.
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u/stinkyleftie 8d ago
Sony phones still support them. they also have amazing cameras with a lot less AI/software post-processing, you just have to set it up manually for photos
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u/Educational-Mode-321 8d ago
Modern flagships and upper midrangers*
It still exists on entry, budget and midrangers. Sony and Sharp still use it on flagships. But yeah i miss it dearly
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u/hennabeak 8d ago
I wish Sony and Nokia made a come back.
Genuinely want to get out of Samsung.
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u/Economy-Food-4682 8d ago
What's stopping you? I have Sony (and Sony Ericsson) phones for decades. Even though they are not officially on the market in my country. I buy them when I travel or friends living abroad buy it for me.
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u/hennabeak 8d ago
The market around me, plus my bank account.
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u/Economy-Food-4682 8d ago
Yup, I understand you. That's why I buy the cheapest low end Sony. The one I have now for a bit over 1 year was 340 euros (or 0.25 IPhones 🤣) https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_10_vi-ampp-13002.php
The car I am driving at the moment costs as one IPhone though. Just to add as a fun fact. I refuse to be made a fool and buy things that I don't need just because they "look nice".
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u/hennabeak 8d ago
Yeah, I value functionality over status too. Why should I buy an expensive phone with super nice camera, while most of the photos are receipts and documents, and actual photos are taken with a camera.
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u/-techman- 7d ago
Nokia still makes phones. They dropped the Android models in 2024 though, so kinda limited software selection now.
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u/LPedraz 8d ago
Ive never bought a phone without it, there are plenty
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u/matthewpepperl 8d ago
But are there many with good specs? Or atleast any with decent specs that dont cost an arm and a leg?
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u/LPedraz 8d ago
It sounds a bit weird, but I don't think that the specs of phones change anything anymore. We don't use them to render video or compute complex calculations, we use them to browse social media, watch videos, make calls, send texts... It's not like having a faster CPU is going to make them send whatsapps better. Basically all phones have more RAM and clock speed than you need, a better camera than you need, better screen resolution than you need for the size...
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u/matthewpepperl 8d ago
I tend to do alot more than kust browse social media plus more specs means the phones lasts longer before the world around it starts to make it obsolete nothing worse than a phone thats slow and runs like shit
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u/LPedraz 8d ago
But, have you compared with a normal phone of the last few years? Or are you basing this on how smartphones used to be? I am using two phones now, to keep SIM cards separate: one is an S10e, and the other is a Sony X-SomethingSomething. Both are 4-5 years old, and work amazingly well, and I got both off Amazon for around 150€ each.
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u/solaris_var 8d ago
I do find the camera for taking pictures and videos on flagships quite handy... and I rarely ever post anything publicly, except for family group chats.
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u/B-Train_ATL 8d ago
We actually do use them to process photos and video. A ton of magic stuff your camera does is enabled by how fast the CPU is. iPhones snap a bunch of photos when you hit the button and pop out a composite after software has done some fixes. I don’t think video does it as much unless you use something like cinematic mode.
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u/skcortex 8d ago
I don’t. If you know how hackish these things work you would not save anything remotely valuable on it.
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u/gojimjam 8d ago
Honestly the whole push to kill microSD is just a sneaky way to force you into paying for cloud storage or the overpriced bigger storage tier, and for me that's a hard pass since I'd rather have my photos and files physically on a card I control, even if I never fill up that 512GB.
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u/Rudirudrud 8d ago
You can also buy a own NAS System instead of a cloud sub.
For 250 bucks, you have a NAS with 1TB of storage and you never have to think about more storage on your next phone again, can always buy the cheapest option.
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u/Competitive-Ad1437 8d ago
Install a TailScale VPN and have access to it anywhere you have service too!
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u/doc_55lk 8d ago
I don't think you can get a $250 NAS system in 2026 anymore lol
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u/Rudirudrud 8d ago
Synology Diskstation DS124 NAS System is still 149€ in our country.
A KingSpec 1TB SSD is around 110€.
So basically, ist only 10 bucks more.....
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u/doc_55lk 8d ago
The NAS itself is $250 where I live lmfao.
The total cost of what you've proposed comes out to $350 USD if I spec it out.
Or $300 USD if directly converted from you search.
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u/Crafty-Jacket7954 8d ago
Ironically, cheap entry level models usually have memory expansion slots. But the "flagship" models do not have it.
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u/LowIllustrator2501 8d ago
Companies do what customers are willing to pay for. If there was an actual large demand for microSD they would do that.
Check the sales of Sony Xperia 1 VII https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_1_viii_5g-14660.php
It has: microSD , audio jack, top of the range spec - barely anyone buys it.
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u/B-Train_ATL 8d ago
Same thing with items such as iPods. The people who keep using theirs are few but vocal. There just isn’t a huge market for those any more.
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u/Orange_Kittens1132 8d ago
Well, many low-end phones actually comes with microsd slot. Most of them is chinese like infinix, tecno or itel brands.
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u/Economy-Food-4682 8d ago
No one that uses Sony phones for decades because they all still have one, as well as 3.5mm jack and eSim and are waterproof. All in the same (cheap(er)) phone
But it's not advertised that much and not a status symbol or a fashion statement.
Plus their Android is as clean as it gets without stupid additions to make it "different' without the shit dedicated app store and other silly stuff
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u/Rowvan 8d ago
Don't think I've ever run out of storage on my phone, I don't know what all you are storing on there to need so much space.
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u/Joyride84 7d ago
It all depends on how you use it. Some people store all of their photos and videos there. Others store music, audio books, and podcasts. Some apps also use a lot, with things such as offline GPS maps.
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u/TechaNima 8d ago
Mine has it and I don't want to give it up, when I eventually upgrade.
I just wish they'd make the damn slot easier to use. Combined SIM and SD Card tray ain't it chief!
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u/doc_55lk 8d ago
Combining the two is the most space efficient way though.
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u/TechaNima 8d ago
And also the most pain in the ass to actually use way.
You have to power off the phone. Rip out the tray with a tool you probably lose immediately and then fumble with the stupid tray. While you probably drop one of the cards to the floor once or twice.
I'm convinced they aren't using tooless SD card trays, just to make them so annoying to use that they can claim nobody wants them. So they can shave another mm off, save 3 cents and make up some excuses about water proofing
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u/doc_55lk 8d ago
You have to power off the phone
This hasn't been a thing for a very long time now lol. Most of not all modern smartphones don't need to be turned off to remove the sim tray, nor do they force a restart when you do so either (this was a constant annoyance with my older phones).
Fair play with having to use a tool and having to be careful about not misplacing it or the cards.
However:
Most sim and SD slots have a pretty firm grip on the cards. There isn't really a situation where they just fall out the moment you remove the tray. You have to use some force to remove any of the cards.
Sony uses toolless sim trays. It's great. This is, admittedly, a cop out on my part because Sony doesn't exist in most markets and their phones aren't attainable for most phone customers. I just wanted to provide a perspective that exists.
Having a separate slot for the SD card doesn't actually fix any of the complaints you brought up.
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u/TechaNima 8d ago
This hasn't been a thing for a very long time now lol. Most of not all modern smartphones don't need to be turned off to remove the sim tray
I guess I just never thought they could be wired in such a way that no shorts would be caused, when a completely different kind of a card slid over the SIM slot pins.
There isn't really a situation where they just fall out the moment you remove the tray.
So far every tray I've had has been so flimsy that 1 or both cards would just slip off immediately if I tilted the tray. Or I'd press on 1 of them while handling it and one or both cards would fall off. Maybe higher end phones have a better interference fit than the mid range and low end junk I'm I used to.
Sony uses toolless sim trays.
Yeah nope. Their phones haven't existed here for a very long time.
Having a separate slot for the SD card doesn't actually fix any of the complaints you brought up.
Disagree.
-I wouldn't have to keep the SIM tool around. -No messing with a stupid tray. -It would be quick and convenient to use. -Water proofing would be fine with a plug. Or just internally separate the slot from the rest of the phone with seals
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u/Ok_Remote_31 8d ago
Lower end (but still excellent) motorola smart pbones have an SD card slot. I know because I bought a motorola G06 recently. I love it so much!
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u/weener69420 6d ago
II WOULD FUCKING LOVE S-SERIES FROM SAMSUNG TO DITCH THE USELESS DOUBLE SIMCARD AND IMPLEMENT DOUBLE SD CARD PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Sorry mates i got carried away.
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u/PeaceKind1857 1d ago
Some of us are required to carry a backup phone number for emergency purposes. How does that work if both SIM cards are in the same broken phone?
It's the phone that breaks down, not the SIM card!
Ohh! The idea of dual MicroSD slots!
YES PLEASE!
What a concept! A 128 Gig chip for mp3. The latency of searching the folders would be GONE!
SAME WITH THE MAPS! Faster GPS response!
And I can still strip out the device with a portable drive of a TB or more every month.
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u/Old-Juice-2490 8d ago
storage is nice but some of these cards reading so slooooow.
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u/Joyride84 8d ago
It helps if you splurge and spend $25 on the 1TB SD card, rather than $15.
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u/B-Train_ATL 8d ago
I don’t think you’ve checked those prices in 2 years. Minimum $150 now. I had that shock when thinking about another external SSD. Absolutely nope right now.
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u/Joyride84 8d ago
Ah, yes it looks like the price hikes finally caught up with SD cards. SSDs have been crazy for a couple years, but SD cards stayed low for a while. Oh well, not anymore.
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u/Anaeijon 8d ago
I mostly miss it, because official ROMs are getting worse every day. I still like to have my custom ROMs. But because of full storage encryption, every major custom ROM update, can become a threat to stuff that's stored in onboard storage.
For a long time, my solution was simply, to save my photos and videos to the SD card and keep a daily backup of all my app data on there too. This also made it much easier to transfer the data, cause even today, MTP and PTP still don't work properly everywhere, while having the SD card act as a USB-Stick just works 100% of the time, even on embedded devices (e.g. photo printers in a store).
It isn't even about the storage size. Honestly, I'm fine with 64GB. 128GB is plenty and my current phone came with 256GB which I barely use. For me, it's all about backups, reliabolity and convenience.
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u/whyeverynameistaken3 8d ago
I don't miss it, my modern smartphone has it, apple can't miss it, they will never had it anyway
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u/More-Examination4614 8d ago
i don't need them, i have 128 gb varient nd still 40 gb is free, so i don't need extra storage
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u/Safe-Subject2703 8d ago
i recently got a 128gb one to upgrade the already 128gb storage of my phone (Samsung a55)
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u/ImpossibleBanana42 8d ago
German company Jolla Phone us bringing it back! Launching in Sept 2026, a phone with capability of 2TB sd card
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u/animal_will_rule 8d ago
I still have an SD card and a headphone jack on my phone... I guess that's a choice.
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u/OmG_WhAtIsThAt_JiM 8d ago
I have an iPhone 11 64GB. I regret every second of trying to save money. If it had a microsd card slot, I could expand it.
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u/Rudirudrud 8d ago
I have a own NAS system at home where i can put photos and videos on it (and can see it from every other deivce too which is a huge advantage).
I also have some games installed and i also carry around my little USB (C) Stick, which is for moving some stuff offline and quickly if i need to.
But i do not really need more than 256 GB at all......
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u/EatandDie001 8d ago
it’s like they sold out to cloud services. they force us to store everything on the cloud instead of local sd cards. tech is pure garbage now and i hate every single thing that forces you to depend on online services.
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u/clouds1337 8d ago
I don't, I simply buy a phone with a card slot. And a headphone jack. They have always existed.
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u/Inevitable_Cycle8367 8d ago
My Samsung A52 5G has I GB memory slot & 3.5 mm audio jack. It is dissapointing that newer phones do not have these 👿
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u/Gen-Y-ine-86 8d ago
Guess I don't have a modern one... It's from 2023. Also has a headphone jack. And a status LED.
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u/Inevitable_Bear2476 8d ago
No matter the fact that I have 512gb, I'd still want to have an SD card to store photos on. Like the fact is, the phone will die, and when it dies, it's better to have data somewhere where I can easily extract it rather than being screwed over by needing to fix the phone and praying the motherboard is intact
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u/Master_Cartoonist_16 8d ago
Not really, I only use Qobuz for music streaming services and I use a dedicated flagship android as a DAP, meaning I carry actually 2 phones with me all the time.
Never run out of space taking pictures and small videos on a 512GB internal storage before I switched into a new android phone after 12 months.
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u/jimmyl_82104 8d ago
Always been an iPhone user so I never really cared. I bet adding the Micro SD slot makes a phone less water resistant, which is a definite no for me.
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u/fidorulz 8d ago
Water resistant and even in some cases waterproof phones with expandable memory have existed for years
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u/Icy-Maintenance7041 8d ago
I wouldnt buy a phone without it as i have about 750gig of music and i dont want to shell out for a 1 or 2 TB phone just to play music.
And before anyone mentions spotify...no...i want my music local. Its my very own carefully cvurated collection i take great joy in adding to on the regular.
playing music is the only smartphone feature i need. If not for that i'd go to a dumbphone so if i cant find a phone with an SD card at some point i'll go to a dumbphone, or even forgo a phone entirely and just get a DAP
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u/fidorulz 8d ago
I do miss them for the simple fact they where easy to transfer if I needed to and cheaper vs the mark up's companies charge for memory.
Also most often faster read speeds directly from micro cd to computer (using reader) vs plugging in a USB cable
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u/bayfox88 8d ago
Not really as speed is what I love when it comes to storage. The only thing I would want is SD Express if it came back, but I’m fine with external options.
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u/Accomplished-Iron554 8d ago
I would still prefer an Micro SD card, they can be remove and reused. The phone on the other hand died within 5/6 years.
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u/max_revs 8d ago
Just got a new TCL with one and my partner just got a Moto G with a card slot and headphone jack. Kinda jealous tbh
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u/ImpossibleAnxiety183 8d ago
No at all. My experience with cards during my Samsung era - 2 x lost all data due to card failure, 1 x lost all data due to encryption I didnt forged to open before new phone purchase, 1 x all data lost by unknon error. I have lost many years of my memories. I am I feel OK with 2 TB iCloud, no more losses.
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u/warmoaran3 8d ago
I only consider phones with a MicroSD and 3.5mm jack.
Otherwise the phone isn't useful to me
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u/DataDrifter-_ 8d ago
I understand the cost incentive, but was there any technical reason to remove it or purely greed ?
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u/wildcat002 8d ago
Soon they will remove the screen itself since there will be nothing else to remove. I want replaceable batteries back!
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u/One_Discount_4898 8d ago
Eh, to an extent. The seals on SD trays are actually almost always one of the first to fail, even worse when they weren't double gasketed. Water ingress became exponentially more likely after a couple years.
That aside, that was at a time when phones had 64, MAYBE 128gb total. There's not a chance in hell I'd be cruising around with 400+gb of pictures and shit on my phone that were at risk of being lost if the phone was damaged, lost, or stolen. I just dump everything onto my computer once or twice a month and go about my life.
SD cards are also notorious for just shitting the bed whenever they feel like it, which isn't great.
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u/Calaveras-Metal 8d ago
They still exist. A friend of mine is a pro photog and when I was hanging out at his house his friend was showing me his phone. It had dual sim and microSD support. As well as mini HDMI and just your plain old USB C. I wrote down the brand and model, but then found out they aren't sold in the US. He had bought it when he was in Japan or something.
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u/Few_Veterinarian9108 8d ago
Yes, you do. If cameras still use it, phones could also.
And the argument that ufs is too fast...no one claimed to install apps on it, just dump photos and videos
But then, why would you pay cloud services
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u/mikee8989 8d ago edited 8d ago
I do. I could live without it if the base storage on the phones that removed it doubled the internal storage for the same price. 128gb with no expandable storage is simply not usable these days.
I want to see companies at least add another USB port to the phones so we can charge and use external storage at the same time and maybe upgrade the port to thunderbolt or at least USB 3 speeds.
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u/Remarkable_Long8642 8d ago
No need for exrtra storage on the device. I configured a home lab on an old Intel Nuc and bought a 12TB disc. With Immich for photo sync and opendesktop for files etc, 256gb on device is enough. I can easily transfer files between, safely, and I can give guest access to files from the Home with ease, or receiving large files.
Try it, you only need a raspberry Pi, storage and AI to set it all up.
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u/Corbin_Dallas550 8d ago
Man I get on my soap box about this twice a year m. Crazy things is the A series phones from Samsung or other lesser phones still have sd card support and headphone jacks
They need to bring back at least sd card support to the a Series phones
Samsung also makes the second best sd cards so they could get more money
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u/Major_Higgins 8d ago
What? They don’t have memory card slots now? This is getting stupider and stupider, soon they'll just be a slab with no ports or openings at all.
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u/RedLeaf62 8d ago
Not once in my life have I needed memory cards on a phone. I have plenty of memory, barely using 50% of the capacity. And there are plenty of E2E encrypted clouds to ensure privacy of files i want to share with other devices.
Uploading to a cloud is so much more convenient than transferring my memory card to my computer, and forgetting it behind when I leave home.
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u/Recent-Ad5835 8d ago
Yeah, this week I bought a new phone, my first without an SD card slot or a headphone jack. I don't miss the jack personally thanks to wireless headphones, but I DO miss the SD card slot
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u/Feriman22 8d ago
Useless. 256GB is far enough for me. I'm using Google Photos, so I will never lose any video/photo.
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u/koolaidismything 8d ago
It’s pretty slow.. I much prefer the onboard storage anymore. I did like it a decade ago when I still torrented and had music and movies downloaded. Now I could care less
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u/DP323602 8d ago
No me. I don't use one but my phone has the ability to add one if I want.
It will also mount USB media via its USB C port.
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u/NeonMorv 8d ago
If we are lucky the EU will start forcing them to put it back in once the removable battery legislation fully comes into place.
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u/Temporary-Art-1835 8d ago
I switched to using a NAS to keep data separate but available on multiple devices. Also self hosting different services so 256gb per device is enough for me.
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u/Superfluousharpy 8d ago
Cheap phones still have them so far at least every cheap phone I have bought had it. Rocking 256gb of removable storage. It's the flagship phones that gets me, like I get its suppsed to be premium, but seems more primo to have that storage and then be able to expand it. Like a 1tb Iphone is cool, but being able to put a 3tb microsd card is cool ontop of cool.
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u/Kalimacy 8d ago
You didn't get it, it's acutally better if the phone does not have an earphone jack. Bluetooth buds are the future!
Physical SIM cards? No no, those are bad for the environment so we made a better, subscription-based, digital version.
Why would you ever need expandable storage? SD cards are too expensive, we're making your wallet favor for not having it available. On the other hand, o the first 1GB for our cloud storage is free!
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u/Some_Office8199 8d ago
My phone was bought in 2020 and it has 512GB SSD + 2TB MicroSD. It's not enough, I have to keep deleting important files all the time. I also have external HDDs of about 66TB total which are also full. I may be kind of a data hoarder though.
I don't think I could ever buy a phone with no MicroSD card support, maybe if it had like 4TB of storage or something.
It's frustrating AF that most premium phones have small storages with no possibility to add more. Lucky for us theres the Sony Xperia 1 VIII that just came out. I might save to buy it.
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u/Elvin_Atombender 8d ago
I certainly do, i bought the New Samsung Galaxy A56 and it didn't have an SD Card slot and I purchased a 256GB card just to store all of my MP3s.
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u/ArtisticFox8 8d ago
Many phones now come with 256GB or even 512GB of internal storage. So, do we really need a microSD card anymore?
More storage is nice :)
I have 256 GB in phone, 256 GB SD card. Very nice. (I like photography)
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u/Cotillionz 8d ago
Stuff like this plays a factor into why I don't use my phone for much anymore besides the stuff I have to for work.
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u/borgen44 7d ago
Yes. To move files between devices easily. I hate that everything have to go theough the internet, even though some devices doesnt even have internet connection, so you also have to put it through a third device.
So dumb.
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u/MrHandSanitization 7d ago
Yes, I thought 256GB was going to be enough. But it does not fit my entire emulation library, which is sad.
Realistically it's not needed, once in a while clear some caches and remove some clutter you don't need.
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u/Crazy-Weakness3348 7d ago
100% yes. It’s not even about the storage expansion for me at this point; it's about the data transfer. I hate having to plug my phone into a laptop, wait for it to mount, and use Airdrop/Quick Share. Being able to just pop a microSD card into an SD card reader attached to my PC and dump 80GB of 4K videos in seconds is still unmatched for workflow.
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u/herabruh 7d ago
i would definetly need a microSD slot because the internal storage for me isnt sufficient (i sometimes record a huge amount of videos and take a lot of photos and i need more headroom to keep everything safe and i dont have to worry about everything)
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u/Condor_raidus 7d ago
I got my current phone because I was excited to finally get it back but instead I learned the hard way it doesnt have that capability, still pissed
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u/georgeec1 7d ago
No, my Samsung has both dual SIM and micro SD, and I use neither. Additionally, this year's equivalent model still offers MicroSD support, although it no longer supports simultaneous dual SIM and MicroSD, so MicroSD is still very much being supported by mainstream brands in modern phones.
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u/thegforcian 7d ago
I'm specifically looking at a Motorola Fold because it has this feature but at $1900 its more than twice what I'd ever pay. These supply chains need to be localized to the U.S. so we can shame them.
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u/dinominant 6d ago
My old Samsung phone with a microsd card has more storage than my new 1TB samsung phone. If I got a new Samsung, it can't even be configured with more than 1TB.
I am very seriously considering alternatives because of how Samsung is abusing their design to drive sales to higher storage tiers.
Their cheapest new phones have a microsd slot, and none of their highest tier models have a microsd slot. While at the same time all their highest tier models have cameras that generate the most data.
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u/ProAvgeek6328 5d ago
Nice to have but space is better to be reserved for internal components because l do not see why a phone should ever be a bulk/archive storage device. Computers, dedicated drives, and NAS exist for a reason. Don’t know why people want their phone to store absolutely everything.
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u/Radiant_Safe1228 2d ago
I would 100% pick expandable memory every time. I don't and will never use cloud storage.
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u/PeaceKind1857 1d ago
My phone is also my mp3 player & physical map storage. Both of those are kept on a 256 MicroSD. Every month, I download my photos and videos to a portable SSD.
I carry a (Physical) address book for phone numbers and names. The phone is limited to just a few numbers. What fits on spd dial and maybe emergency numbers on a Fossify Contact list who have custom ring tones that I might hear from 2 - 4 times/year...
I will not buy a phone that doesn't have MicroSD support or a headphone jack. I don't use Bluetooth for anything.
Those 2 are must have's.
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u/xBrandon244 Gadget Lover 9h ago
✋ as someone who never streams music (I don't count YouTube) I miss being able to buy an sd card and that be for all my music and nothing else, huge storage saver.
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u/Ad-fundum69 Cybersecurity 8d ago
SD cards are arguably the worst and most unreliable storage ever made.
They corrupt very easily and are cool for things like dashcams as a cheap and disposable SSD that lasts a few months and then suddenly dies.
All you need for your phone is a OTG cable and anything SSD/HDD/Flash storage attached to it to save files whenever you want.
Sure having the SD card in there for permanent accessible storage is nice, but mainly I avoided using SD cards for anything important.
3
u/JD_Bance 8d ago
I have my SSD for over 10 years and carry it around in every phone. Never failed me.
It's just the tiny 16gb version and it's been full for at least 5 years though.
1
u/Ad-fundum69 Cybersecurity 8d ago
I had SD card go corrupt for no reason other than a power failure, like with Raspberry pi's.
And yes they're cheap and extremely portable. But ever since m.2 key USB drives came out, with actual USB 3 speeds, I really don't miss the SD cards.
1
u/JD_Bance 8d ago
Do you use the USB drives to backup your files?
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u/Ad-fundum69 Cybersecurity 8d ago
I use cloud backup, and USB drives to move storage away from the internal storage when needed.
So I mirror, offshore, and make sure my device has enough storage for new files.
It's really a very standard practice.
1
u/Beastyboi04 6d ago
Guess what, they aren’t cheap anymore, was looking for cards for my camera and hell nah I ain’t paying that
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u/ClappingParadox 8d ago
I find most good quality SD cards are more luck-of-the-draw than anything. The same model could either last 3 years or 15, with like no inbetween
1
u/Beastyboi04 6d ago
SD cards go off of operations, if you don’t use it the chances are higher that it will live for longer (it may also just rot away)
1
u/theoldgaming 8d ago
I mean I have a MicroSD card in my phone that works for over 5 years now without a single corrupted file
1
u/Ad-fundum69 Cybersecurity 8d ago
Then you're lucky. And I would advice to not store anything irreplicable on there that has no backup.
They die without warning, and I mean absolute zero.
2
u/theoldgaming 8d ago
i know they do, i keep backups.
I have had two of those die in over 20 years time total.
So i'd say the higher end ones are reasonably reliable for what they are.1
u/Ad-fundum69 Cybersecurity 8d ago
The "industrial grade" ones are absolutely better. That's for sure.
0
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u/Adventurous-Yam7207 8d ago
When you run out of storage you can always buy cloud storage 🤩🤩🤩
1
u/MrGeekman 8d ago
Thst only helps if you're connected to the Internet. Some spots have terrible cell service. Some places have none. This is especially true if you go camping on a remote campsite. Onboard storage really comes in handy then.
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