4K helping keep demand strong for memory cards

Dubai:

The usage of memory cards are growing day by day due to the increasing demand for memory-heavy formats, including 4K, 360-degree and virtual reality videos, said SanDisk regional official.

“Definitely, the microSD cards for mobile phones have seen a tremendous increase after the launch of premium devices,” Tareq Husseini, senior director for retail sales at SanDisk Mediterranean Middle East and Africa, told Gulf News.

Hard disk drive giant Western Digital acquired the flash manufacturer SanDisk in May this year for $19 billion.

A lot of new mobile phones comes with cameras that are able to record 4K videos (3840 x 2160 resolution) which are four times that of the Full HD (1920 x 1080 resolution). These devices require a lot of storage capacity.

The company launched 200GB microSD card a year ago and just launched 256GB at Gitex.

Recently, it launched a 1TB SDXC prototype card for cameras in Germany.

Sixteen years ago, SanDisk unveiled its first 64MB SD card.

The company said the 1TB card is necessary to match the increasing demand for memory-heavy formats.

Some premium smartphones in the market support up to 2TB SD card.

“As we have launched a 1TB card for cameras, it will eventually trickle down to microSD size. SanDisk is no stranger to breaking bounds. In 2014, we unveiled 512GB SDXC card, which doubled the storage capacity of a regular memory card while retaining the same diminutive form factor,” he said.

He said that business is capitalising on organic growth in the region. The company has seen re-exports to Africa from Dubai soar for flash drives.

“Last year, we had a lot of pricing pressure in the industry and it has reversed this year. In 2015, we have grown 30 per cent year on year in volume but in value terms, we were relatively flat,” he said.

This year, the exact opposite has started and the demand for SD cards outstripped the supply during March-April period. The prices also rose around 40 per cent.

“In some instances, we were raising the prices on a weekly basis and that allowed us to sell fewer units and make more revenue. This year, we expect between 15 per cent and 18 per cent increase in value and decrease in volume due to people moving to higher capacities,” he said.

Last year, the average capacity was 8GB in the region but as of now, it is 32GB and before the end of the year, Husseini said it is going to be 64GB.

“Storage is going to evolve into higher capacities due to the demand we see from a storage perspective,” he added.