Toshiba on Wednesday revealed a new batch of "Exceria" SD memory cards integrated with a newly developed controller compliant with UHS-II, the ultra-high speed serial bus interface defined in SD Memory Card Standard Ver. 4.10. These new cards offer the world's fastest data write speed, the company said, and will be launched in major markets worldwide, starting with Japan in October.
"While digital cameras have made huge strides in image quality and versatility, users have long wanted to see improvements in data transfer rates and write times, so as to be able to takes bursts of photographs in quick succession," the company said. "This demand has grown increasingly strong as high performance digital single-lens reflex cameras and mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras have gained popularity and moved into the mainstream."
Exceria cards compliant with UHS-II will be available in two groups: the vanilla Exceria Series and the Exceria Pro Series. The Pro versions will offer data write speeds up to 240 MB/s (aka "the world's fastest") and data read speeds up to 260 MB/s. The non-Pro cards will have data write speeds up to 120 MB/s and data read speeds up to 260 MB/s. Both groups will offer 16 GB and 32 GB capacities.
So far pricing is set to "open", but Toshiba's schedule shows the Exceria Pro cards arriving first in October followed by the regular Exceria cards in November. Keep in mind that Toshiba already offers a line of Exceria cards compliant with the SD Memory Card Standard Ver.3.0 UHS-I with read speeds up to 95 MB/s and write speeds up to 90 MB/s. This new set launching in the fall is UHS-II compliant, offering faster data transfers than ones on the market now.
"Further advances in higher resolution image recording (including 4K2K video), will fuel demand for transfers of data-rich images at high speed," the company said. "Looking to the future, Toshiba, a world leader in the NAND flash memory business, will continue to meet market demands by enhancing its line-up of UHS-II compliant SD memory cards."
For more information about Toshiba's line of Exceria cards, head here. We'll keep you posted on the pricing of the new UHS-II compliant models.
