Best answer: No. This year, Samsung is ditching microSD support, which has been a feature for many years. Luckily, the phones have at least 128GB of storage (with options of 256GB and 512GB) and you can still use a variety of devices and services to expand that even further.
- Samsung’s next flagship: Samsung Galaxy S21 ($800 at Samsung)
No microSD card for you!
Rumors started to surface right after the new year that some models in the S21 series wouldn’t have any microSD card support. Other rumors suggested that only the Galaxy S21 Ultra would have it. Ultimately, Samsung left it out of all three models.
Samsung is starting off its base models at 128GB of storage, which is really good. That will store a lot of photos, games, and data. When you factor in the 256GB and 512GB of storage available in the Galaxy S21+ and Galaxy S21 Ultra, microSD cards seem less and less important.
But, but, but…
It’s true that microSD cards are an inexpensive way to bulk up storage on your phone. We have a list of all the best microSD cards you can pick up and none of them are very pricey. Will microSD support be missed? For sure.
But the reality is that a small number of people use microSD cards in their phones these days. Accessing the data on them is not simple and memory cards tend to be slower and buggier than on-board storage. Samsung undoubtedly has reasons for removing the capability. For some of us, it will suck. The beauty of Android is that when one OEM drops a feature, a dozen others are there who support it.
But there are other storage expansion options
Another awesome thing about Android is that is supports all manner of additional storage. For example, you can pick up a USB Type-C thumb drive to bulk up your phone’s storage. Plus, let’s not forget about cloud storage services. Google Photos alone can help you save gigabytes worth of storage on your phone. 5G capability in the Samsung Galaxy S21 series ensures that you can backup and access information in the cloud faster than ever before!
So, all is not lost. The base model already offers 128GB of storage, and additional devices and services can help your phone last a long time without the use of microSD.
The best gets better
Samsung Galaxy S21
$800 at Samsung
Top of the class
Samsung is pulling few punches with the S21 lineup this year. The base model gets you a 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 888, 12GB of memory, and 128GB of storage along with three cameras on the back. All that plus 5G? Yes, please!
