What are Huawei's NM cards and differences from microSD

huawei nm cards

With the launch of the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, Huawei unveiled its new generation of memory cards under the name NM Card or NM Cards. Roughly speaking, Huawei's new type of memory card is nothing more than an expansion method that replicates the advantages of traditional microSD cards. But what differences are there really from the latter? Do they really represent a technical advantage or is it just a new proprietary standard? We see it below.

First of all, what is a Huawei NM card?

NM cards, or as its name suggests, Nano Memory Card, is a type of expansion card intended for Huawei phones . The main advantages over traditional microSD cards are based, according to the company itself, on the size and speed of sequential reading and writing.

nm-card-card-what-is-how-much-it-costs-and-where-to find it-1

At the moment, they are only available on Honor and Huawei phones , although it is not ruled out that the standard will open to new manufacturers in the coming months.

Up to 45% smaller SD cards

This was announced by Huawei with great fanfare during the presentation of the Huawei Mate 20. According to the manufacturer's data, NM Cards are up to 45% smaller than microSD cards , with a size almost identical to that of current nanoSIM cards .

sd card vs nm card huawei

With this, Huawei intends to reduce the size of the trays for memory and SIM cards , because in general terms, we will be able to make use of the space allocated to SIM cards instead of allocating three different spaces. In practice, this means expanding the available space to integrate larger battery modules or more powerful components.

Finally, it should be noted that today there are already solutions that integrate both connections in the same slot with microSD cards  to reduce the total size of the tray.

And up to 90MB / s maximum speed

Compared to UFS and eMMC memories, traditional microSD cards do not stand out for being the fastest, with average speeds not exceeding 30 MB / s .

NM Cards promise up to 90MB / s stable read and write speed . Today, such capacity is achievable only by high-end microSD cards, such as UHS-I class 3.

What are the NM cards of Huawei phones and differences with the microSD 1

As far as the amount of memory is concerned, Huawei's NM Cards start at 128 and 256 GB respectively . It is also possible to find 64 GB cards, although it is not usually common.

How much do NM cards cost

Huawei's compaction work and the high speed rate NM cards get comes at a price that, compared to traditional microSD cards, can be high.

Currently it is possible to find Huawei proprietary cards for a price that starts from 49 euros in the case of 128 GB cards and 129 euros in the case of 256 GB cards . For its part, 64 GB cards can be found for about 29 euros, although it is currently out of stock in most stores.

Where can I buy an NM card?

Huawei does not sell NM cards directly. To do this, we will have to resort to third-party stores, such as Amazon, eBay or Aliexpress.

Amazon

  • 128 GB NM Card for 49 euros
  • 256 GB NM Card for 157 euros

eBay

  • 128 GB NM Card for 67 euros
  • 256 GB NM Card for 129 euros

Aliexpress

  • 64 GB NM Card for 30 euros
  • 128 GB NM Card for 54 euros
  • 256 GB NM Card for 96 euros