(Image credit: Samsung / Future)

If you’ve been looking for a storage upgrade for your handheld, we’ve spotted a deal on one of the best options: Samsung’s P9 Express 512GB is just $74.99 on Amazon right now, down $25 from its list price.

SD cards may not be as glamorous as SSDs, but they’re just as essential and have received a significant upgrade with the microSD Express standard. Used by the Nintendo Switch 2, microSD Express cards offer superior speeds and durability for devices that need them, but they’re also backward-compatible with previous generations.

• Check out this deal on Amazon

You might think there’s not much to boast about in an SD card, but the P9 Express leverages the NVMe protocol using a PCIe 3.0 x1 interface. That enables maximum sequential read speeds of up to 800 MB/s, with random read/write endurance rated at 65,000 IOPS and 52,000 IOPS, respectively, to contend with the best microSD Express cards. There’s onboard support for Host Memory Buffer (HMB), allowing the card to use system memory as temporary cache, and Samsung promises next-level ruggedness.

You’re looking at roughly 4x the performance of a standard UHS-I card, a standard the P9 Express is backwards compatible with, so even your older devices can accept it. You’ll see tangible benefits of this tech in modern hardware, such as the Switch 2, where loading large textures and other assets requires fast, SSD-like storage in a compact form factor. Heck, even the upcoming Steam Machine with a microSD card slot at the front likely supports the Express standard, so you can load up all your favorite games without breaking the bank.

If 512GB for $74.99 doesn’t feel right to you, the P9 Express is also available in a 256GB variant, which is on sale for $47.49 right now, down from its usual price of $54.99. Both cards offer identical performance and are backed by a 3-year warranty, similar to the special Mario Edition 256 GB model Samsung released alongside the Switch 2 — a card we already recommend. Lastly, Samsung’s Magician software is also compatible with the P9 Express, so you can rest assured you’ll receive an authentic product.

If you’re looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, or CPU Deals pages.

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Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.