Best Black Friday Nintendo Switch SD card deals: cheap console storage expansion

The Nintendo Switch doesn't come with a lot of onboard storage, which is why you'll want to buy the best SD card for Switch storage expansion. Those games have to live somewhere! And now it's Black Friday 2023 week there are extra discounts on SD cards for your Nintendo console. 

The original Switch offers 32GB storage; the newer Switch OLED model doubles that to 64GB. Either way, with system information using up some of that space, once you start downloading a game or two you'll quickly use up the space – a download averages around 8GB, but can be over 30GB.

Picking an SD card for Nintendo Switch requires a number of considerations, and I dig into speeds and classes at the base of this article. Also don't buy anything that seems too good to be true: there are plenty of reports of fake cards being sold on Amazon from not-reputable brands.

So without further ado, these are the best SD cards for Nintendo Switch storage expansion this Black Friday week, all from trusted brands, at a variety of capacities and price points... if you're looking for anything more then check out T3's Best Black Friday Deals feature. 

Best microSD cards for Nintendo Switch

SanDisk 128GB microSDXC card for Nintendo Switch: was 34.90, now £13.69 on Amazon

The best for most people, and not just because it's got official Nintendo affiliation and a cool Mushroom on the design. The price is great, the storage is four times that of the Switch's onboard capacity (double that of OLED) and will serve many players well. 

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Lexar PLAY 1TB microSD card: was £115.95, now £98 on Amazon

If capacity is everything for you then Lexar's 1TB card is the highest current capacity offered in microSD format. It ticks all the boxes and you'd be able to download an almost never-ending supply of Switch games on this card. Ideal if you're a heavy gamer and never want to switch your Switch's card out.

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SanDisk Ultra 64GB microSDXC card: was £9.99, now £7.70 at Amazon

If all you want is a little more capacity on the cheap then this card is a great budget option from a known manufacturer. It's only a U1 type, however, so you'll not get the higher speeds of the U3 cards otherwise featured in this list. But, like I say, if it's cheapest wins then this is your choice. 

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Samsung Evo Plus 512GB microSDXC card: now £30.30 on Amazon

No fancy classic Nintendo symbols here, but if you want a much larger card from a reputed maker then the Samsung's card has a whole lot of space. Consider that Witcher 3 is over 31GB and you could save an equivalent title 16 times over on a card like this.

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SanDisk 512GB microSDXC card for Nintendo Switch: was £76.99, now £41.49 on Amazon

If you're a Nintendo superfan then the Animal Crossing branding here is what you're paying extra for, ultimately, as the equivalent capacity is cheaper on the highlighted Samsung card further up this list. Still, Animal Crossing speaks its own language so I can see why this official card is so popular. 

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Nintendo Switch SD card speeds and classes explained

Note that it's actually the microSD format that Switch accepts, i.e. not full-size SD cards. That includes microSDHC and microSDXC up to 2TB in capacity, as directed by Nintendo on its official site (although no 2TB microSD cards exist at the time of writing, it's a theoretical maximum only).

The Switch supports UHS-I type cards (circa up to 100MB/s speeds), not the newer and faster UHS-II type. 

However! There are also U1/V10 and U3/V30 types, the latter proven to be faster for install/loading even on Switch. Look for the 'bucket' U-shape with the number '3' inside it on the card as a visual identifier.

There are also Application Standards, A1 and A2 (expressed literally as so in a visual form), the latter far faster with read/write. While either is compatible with Switch, the console won't take advantage of A2, so don't overpay for this feature.