IGN has published its performance review of Samsung’s new P9 microSD Express card when used with the Nintendo Switch 2, praising its excellent real-world results. According to the review, the P9 outperforms the cheaper Onn card in both read and write speeds, and matches the performance of the PNY card of the same capacity. While it is still slightly slower than the Switch 2’s internal storage when loading games, the difference is minimal—so slight that precise timing tools are needed to notice it. Overall, Samsung’s P9 is considered a high-performance and worthwhile option for players looking to expand their Switch 2 storage.
The Samsung P9 microSD Express is available in 256GB and 512GB capacities, priced at $54.99 and $99.99, respectively.
Samsung claims the P9 can achieve 65,000 IOPS in random read performance and 52,000 IOPS in random write performance—swift numbers compared to standard microSD cards, which typically top out at around 4,000 IOPS in theory.
In nearly all game tests, the 256GB Samsung P9 and the equivalent PNY card delivered similar performance:
- Donkey Kong Country Returns HD loaded in about 21 seconds
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom loaded in roughly 9 seconds
The only exception was Mario Kart World Tour, where the Samsung P9 was about 2 seconds slower than the PNY card.
Write speed is where the Samsung P9 truly shines. Across all tests, it consistently maintained a throughput of 71–73 MB/s. For example, transferring the 17.2GB game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to the P9 took only about 4 minutes, compared to 5 minutes on the Onn card and nearly 6 minutes on the PNY.
The above content is compiled by ModeZone, a fashion and entertainment magazine.
