Expandable Storage and Android

Storage can be an expensive aspect of a device, with some manufacturers charging $100 to double your storage from 16GB to 32 GB or 32 GB to 64 GB, with most devices topping out at 64 GB. For those of us who want more than 64 GB for much less of a price increase, expandable storage is a useful feature. Most Flagship devices lack expandable storage these days, like most LG Devices, the HTC One, and every Nexus device. However, there are still a few great devices out there that use SD cards.

The Galaxy SIV, Note III, Note 10.1 and 8, Tab 3 7, 8, and 10 all have expandable storage, as do most Samsung phones and tablets. Samsung still uses expandable storage for multiple reasons. If a consumer wants expandable storage on a device, he has one reliable option: Samsung. If expandable storage is make-or-break, and you want a phone newer than 2011, Samsung is your only consistent choice. Also, with expandable storage as an option, Samsung can worry less about 64GB phone distribution. It's harder to find a 64 GB GSIV, but that's not a problem: consumers can get enough storage out of the 16 GB model by purchasing their own Micro SD card. 

Unfortunately, there has been a recent trend of moving away from expandable storage, with most other brands getting rid of that option. However, there may be hope: two recent devices were released from HTC and LG that seem to buck the trend and hopefully reverse it. The HTC One Max is HTC's phablet that comes with 32GB storage with expandable storage up to 64 GB. The LG phablet Optimus G Pro also offers these features. These recent releases may show that manufacturers are moving back in the right direction at least as far as bigger devices go.

The biggest reasons that SD card-enabled phones are harder to find are security (data on SD cards is much easier to swipe,) and money (you can make alot more charging someone an extra $50- $100 for more storage than giving her the optiong to buy it elsewhere.) However, if consumers make a big push for expandable memory to become popular again, we can influence these manufacturers to offer more high-end phones with SD card capabilities.