I often see people in Internet comments falsely assuming that MicroSD is obsolete now that smartphones have high internal storage capacity.
While I am glad that we have moved past the days where 32 GB of internal storage was considered normal (remember the Galaxy S7 with its tiny 32 GB in 2016?), many people don't seem to understand that the main benefit of MicroSD is not storage capacity anymore, but durability and control over your data.
Any data in internal storage it is at the mercy of the operating system of the device. As history has shown, it can be broken by bogus updates or at worst be remotely disabled:
The internal storage is also more vulnerable to physical damage. If your USB port breaks or you drop your phone and it breaks (you should use a protective case anyway) or the water protection fails, you can no longer access its internal storage. Then you are at the mercy of the repair shop.
However, you can immediately retrieve a MicroSD card from the device and read it from another device or a computer. If you hold the power button and the screen stays black, you can rest assured that your data is still there.
Even that is easier thanks to MicroSD. You can just insert it into the computer and bypass the slow and buggy MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) or even slower cloud syncing.
Memory cards also give you control over your data. If you have a music library on your MicroSD card, you can bring that music library to a new phone within one minute by switching cards. You don't have to bother with hour-long file transfers. It's with you in an instant, everywhere, even in locations where no Internet connection is available.
While I am glad that we have moved past the days where 32 GB of internal storage was considered normal (remember the Galaxy S7 with its tiny 32 GB in 2016?), many people don't seem to understand that the main benefit of MicroSD is not storage capacity anymore, but durability and control over your data.
Any data in internal storage it is at the mercy of the operating system of the device. As history has shown, it can be broken by bogus updates or at worst be remotely disabled:
The internal storage is also more vulnerable to physical damage. If your USB port breaks or you drop your phone and it breaks (you should use a protective case anyway) or the water protection fails, you can no longer access its internal storage. Then you are at the mercy of the repair shop.
However, you can immediately retrieve a MicroSD card from the device and read it from another device or a computer. If you hold the power button and the screen stays black, you can rest assured that your data is still there.
Even that is easier thanks to MicroSD. You can just insert it into the computer and bypass the slow and buggy MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) or even slower cloud syncing.
Memory cards also give you control over your data. If you have a music library on your MicroSD card, you can bring that music library to a new phone within one minute by switching cards. You don't have to bother with hour-long file transfers. It's with you in an instant, everywhere, even in locations where no Internet connection is available.
