With a streamlined interface, easy media viewing, and value for the dollar, it’s hard to beat the Amazon Fire tablet. Amazon Fire tablets are great for a wide range of content and can help you stay on top of social media and smart home devices. To make sure you have plenty of space for apps, movies, and music, you can expand storage with a microSD card.
The latest Amazon Fire tablets use microSD cards up to 1 terabyte in size. Luckily, you probably won’t need one that large, even with a huge collection of high-definition content. And you won’t see a ton of benefit from getting something that’s as fast as possible. But it is worth considering which microSD card brands and models offer the most reliability and bang for the buck.
If you’re on a tight budget, this 128GB option from Silicon Power can help provide extra storage without putting a big dent in your bank account. In fact, it’s even cheaper than some 64GB microSD cards from more well-known brands. If you opt to save money by going with this one, you will be compromising somewhat in terms of reliability and speed, especially if you plan to store apps on it. But, assuming you aren’t using your Fire tablet to archive personal documents and other sensitive data, a slightly higher chance of errors might not make a difference. And while it might not win any races while transferring large files you’ve already downloaded or firing up apps on demand, it’s easily fast enough to accommodate most tablets’ download speeds, so it won’t bottleneck your everyday usage.
Silicon Power 128 GB microSD card
Let’s say you have multiple tablets, none of which have enough internal storage space to accommodate your entire family’s varied tastes in movies, music, audiobooks, and games. To equip all of them with a workable amount of storage, consider a multipack like this one, which consists of three PNY Elite-X microSD cards at a rock-bottom price. And it’s not like you’re sacrificing a ton of performance to save money, either. Despite its reasonable cost, the Elite-X boasts sequential read and write speeds of roughly 90MBps and 75MBps, respectively, according to actual benchmarks (as opposed to the manufacturer’s claims).
While it’s widely known for advanced devices, including smartphones and TVs, Samsung also produces some of the world’s fastest and most reliable flash memory. That’s what the Evo Select microSD card lineup uses. Since it’s engineered and manufactured entirely in-house, you can rest assured that it’s as dependable as persistent solid-state memory gets. Even better, the Amazon-specific Evo Select family costs less than most others while delivering nearly the best performance possible in midrange devices such as tablets. In other words, Samsung’s microSD cards offer the best combination of value and performance for the Amazon Fire Tablet series.
Samsung Evo Select microSD card
The SanDisk Extreme has been one of the fastest and most reliable microSD card families for some time now, and it just got better with a May 2022 refresh. The new model implements a novel, proprietary technology called QuickFlow that smashes the former UHS-1 limitation of 104MBps. The updated Extreme claims write speeds of up to 140MBps and a whopping 200MBps on the reading side. You do need a SanDisk-branded SD card reader with explicit QuickFlow to utilize the advanced technology, which Fire tablets don’t have. However, the promise of such high speeds also ensures that the new SanDisk Extreme will take full advantage of any microSD card reader, including the one in your tablet.
SanDisk Extreme microSD card
Like the companies behind some of our other top recommendations, PNY manufactures its very own flash memory for components like its Pro Elite microSD card. With that said, PNY isn’t exactly known for blazing-fast performance, but you can put a good deal of faith in it for long-term data storage. And since Fire tablets aren’t equipped with ultra-premium SD card readers anyway, you probably don’t have any issues with the middle-of-the-pack speed. Plus, it’s relatively affordable, even at the highest possible 1TB capacity.
PNY Pro Elite microSD card
It’s been around for a while, comes from one of the most reliable TF card manufacturers, and gets rave long-term reviews from users. Those are three great reasons to consider the SanDisk Ultra microSD card. If you plan on storing a considerable amount of high-definition content on your Fire tablet, the 512GB version is an excellent value. SanDisk’s naming conventions aren’t exactly straightforward, though, so note that the Ultra is not quite as fast as the Extreme, especially when you take into account the updated Extreme’s proprietary QuickFlow technology. With that said, though, the Ultra was recently refreshed and is now better able to handle real-world data without bogging down as much as the previous version.
SanDisk Ultra microSD card
The A2 designation means that microSD cards like the Lexar Professional 1066x meet or exceed a certain (high) number of input/output operations (IOPS) per second. The big benefit of the A2 specification (and, to a point, its predecessor A1) is that it’s evidence that a particular microSD card can read and write many small, random files or data blocks at essentially the same time. In real-world terms, the A2 specification indicates that a microSD card will be better than a non-A2 model at loading apps from storage into RAM. In hands-on testing, it maintains a consistent 90 megabytes per second when reading large files, which is what most downloaded audio and video consist of.
Lexar Professional 1066x microSD card
In real-world benchmarks, the Silicon Power Superior can read at nearly 100 megabytes per second, which is noticeably faster than even some of our most recommended choices. On the other side of the coin, its large file write speeds are a bit subpar, landing at or below 70MBPS despite a claimed 80MBPS write speed. The moderate price, however, mostly makes up for the less-than-ideal write speed. If you only need 128GB of extra storage, the smallest Silicon Power Superior microSD card is also one of the most affordable.
Silicon Power Superior microSD card
Using a microSD card with an Amazon Fire tablet
First, remember that Amazon Fire tablets are convenient, affordable, and functional — but not exactly packed with high-end hardware. That includes the microSD card reader. So you won’t see any noticeable difference in terms of speed by opting for an advanced memory card.
That’s also why we didn’t want to clutter up our comparison with in-depth benchmarks because they’re just not super relevant. And we haven’t put a ton of weight on special speed classifications such as UHS-II and V90, either. The only time you’ll see any performance difference is when transferring files between a PC or smartphone with a high-end microSD card reader.
Rather than speed, focus on cost-effectiveness and reliability when considering the best TF cards for Amazon’s low-cost tablets. Nobody wants to boot up their tablet only to find that their memory card has been corrupted and their files lost. For peak dependability, stick with one of the recommended brands, such as SanDisk or Samsung.
MicroSD card authenticity
Take special note to check your microSD card as soon as you receive it. Some online vendors toss all their similarly labeled stock in the same bin, regardless of whether it’s an in-house sale or one from a third party. For example, a microSD card that’s technically “Fulfilled by Amazon” may or may not have been sourced directly from the manufacturer by Amazon.
You’ll probably know a counterfeit microSD card quickly because they often fail right out of the box. Another clear sign is a capacity far below the advertised size. In that case, though, also keep in mind that some operating systems mislabel gibibytes as gigabytes, so there is usually a difference of several percentage points between the advertised size and what your tablet or PC detects.
The reassuring thing to remember about fake memory cards is that any online vendor worth their salt will readily accept a return or simply send you a new card when informed that you’ve been sold a dud.
So, which one should I pick?
If you plan on popping it in your Fire tablet and never taking it out, choose the most affordable card from a reliable brand. If you only need one card, that will likely be the Silicon Power standard model. If you need a few, you can save some cash by going with a bundle of three PNYs.
If you want a little extra peace of mind, consider opting for a slightly more expensive model from Samsung or SanDisk. They also benefit from increased speed when moving large files from a PC.
If you’re especially concerned with speed, take note of the recently updated SanDisk Ultra. It’s been slightly re-engineered for consistently high speed and should make the absolute most of the tablet’s hardware. Our premium pick, the SanDisk Extreme, offers even more performance. Remember, though, that you’ll need a specialized microSD card reader to take advantage of Extreme’s proprietary high-bandwidth technology.
In terms of performance and reliability, Samsung remains one of the most prolific manufacturers of premium flash memory. Its Evo Select microSD offering is about as good as they get, and it’s often the same price as less well-known options.
