SanDisk’s new 512GB SD card is ‘world’s highest capacity’ but costs $800

Just a few years ago, a 1GB SD card was considered large. Recently, 256GBGB SD cards were shown to the world and lauded, but now it’s safe to say it’s nowhere near the largest capacity available for the form factor. SanDisk, the American flash-memory manufacturer has announced a card offering the user 512GB of unadulterated storage.

The latest addition to the “Extreme Pro” SDXC grade can top speeds of 95MB/s — which is quite dim considering other products, but unlike those, the card offers double the storage previously conceived. And on that note, the conceivable limit of these cards is a healthy 2TB. Judging by the pace flash-memory companies are galloping, we should reach that limit before the close of the decade.

For now at least, the 512GB card will be an attractive option for  multimedia producers on the cusp of the mainstream adoption of 4K resolutions. It’s not currently the widespread standard that 1080p is, but it should be in the not too distant future.

In case you were wondering just how much 512GB can hold, it’s a good thousand 21MP RAW files, which should also appease the over-zealous and ill-prepared photographer. But SanDisk is positioning this card as a professional offering, rather than a consumer-grade card, at least for now.

The card, in all its 512GB glory will sell for a good US$800, nearly as much as a mid-range SLR camera body. But while more companies are progressing towards the latest threshold, the premium should decrease, but for now, SanDisk can proudly don the SD card capacity crown.