Happy birthday, SD card. It’s been 25 years since the launch of the original SD memory card back in 2000, and somehow, it’s still going strong. While plenty of storage formats have come and gone, the SD card has quietly kept doing its job — storing our photos, videos, music, and games without much fuss.
The SD Association is celebrating this big milestone by reminding everyone just how far things have come. In those 25 years, over 12 billion SD and microSD cards have been sold. That’s not a typo. 12 billion. From point-and-shoot cameras to smartphones and gaming handhelds, these little cards have shown up everywhere.
And while we’re at it, let’s also wish a happy 20th birthday to the microSD card. These tiny memory cards changed the game for mobile phones. They gave people an affordable way to expand their phone’s storage when onboard memory was a joke. Thanks to microSD, users could actually download music, take endless selfies, and even store full-length movies in their pockets.
To mark the occasion, the SDA has been doing a little giving back. The organization donated $25,000 to the Audiopedia Foundation, which is working to empower African women by loading microSD cards with audio content for basic phones. These aren’t smartphones. These are simple devices that, with the help of a microSD card, can suddenly become tools for learning about health, finance, and education.
The SDA also planted 25,000 trees through OneTreePlanted and the Morino Project. That’s one tree for every year SD cards have been around. It’s a nice gesture and one that shows this anniversary isn’t just about looking back.
Of course, there’s also been a lot of technical progress. The first SD card held just 8MB of data. That wouldn’t even hold a single high-res photo today. Now, SDUC and microSDUC cards can hit 4TB. That’s a 500,000 percent capacity boost. And speeds have jumped from 12.5MB/s to nearly 4GB/s with SD Express.
Despite all the changes in tech, SD cards are still used everywhere. From drones and dash cams to handheld gaming consoles and Android devices, SD storage continues to be relevant. Some gamers even run full libraries off of microSD cards because it’s faster and more convenient than deleting and redownloading.
Hiroyuki Sakamoto, President of the SDA, said, “The SDA is laser-focused on ensuring its standards remain a compelling storage choice across an extensive variety of products and uses for both consumers and businesses.” He also pointed to a jaw-dropping stat; by 2028, 394 zettabytes of data will be created. SD cards, he believes, will still be part of that future.
At a time when everything feels disposable, it’s refreshing to see a technology that has survived this long without being tossed aside. The SD card isn’t flashy, but it’s dependable. And after 25 years, it’s earned a little respect.
