U3 vs. U1 SD Cards: A Detailed Comparison (2023)

SD cards are small flash memory cards or storage devices designed as high-capacity storage for various portable devices such as car navigation systems, cell phones, digital cameras, digital camcorders, and computers.

SD cards offer excellent compatibility with many electronic devices. They make transferring data from one device to another extremely convenient.

It is essential to buy the right SD card according to your needs. You need to check the storage capacity, speed class, and physical size. It's important to buy the right SD card as well to avoid equipment malfunction or even worse data loss.

Taking all of the above into account, U3 offers more in terms of storage capacity, speed class, and video class compared to U1.

This article provides a detailed comparison between the U1 and U3 SD cards. So let's get started.

Micro-SD-Karte UHS-1

The fastest SDXC memory cards have the ultra-high speed rating, represented by a number inside the letter "U." U1 means the speed rating is 10MB.

This card offers fast transfer speeds of up to 104MB.

SanDisk primarily used the UHS-1 card, which greatly increased transfer speeds. As of now, UHS-1 is commonly used for many Micro SDHC and Micro SDXC cards, such as the SanDisk Ultra SD UHS-1 card.

Micro-SD-Karte UHS-3

UHS-3 adds a second row of pins. It offers a higher transfer speed of up to 312 MB.

The design of UHS-3 is dual rail and LVDS technology, which greatly improves the performance of the SD card.

It also uses a QR feature, also known as quick recovery, to optimize power management, which in turn helps the SD card reduce the time it takes to transition from sleep to wake.

Because it can optimize a camera's power consumption, the UHS-iii is well-suited for shooting time-lapse or longer video.

Difference Between Micro SD U1 and U3

UHS speed class

Two classes of ultra-fast memory are now more common: U1 and U3. But many of the higher end cameras require at least one U3 for many features. Let's compare them and see which micro SD card is your ideal choice.

Comparing U1 vs U3, the main difference between UHS-i Class 1 and Class 3 cards is that UHS-i Class has 10MB write speed and Class 3 has 30MB write speed.

This is a significant difference and particularly critical when recording large amounts of data quickly, such as in B. Recording 4K video.

If you're shooting with a small sensor, or just taking street or portrait shots, speed may not matter much.

UHS Bus

Other than UHS speed class, there is something else called UHS bus. The UHS bus type is the Roman numeral on the front of the card. The UHS bus refers to how data is transferred between the pins on the card and the connector on the host device.

The UHS bus is UHS-i, UHS-ii, or UHS-iii with maximum theoretical transfer rates of

170MB, 312MB and 624MB. However, the UHS bus only refers to the clock speed of the card and not the transfer rate.

So if you compare UHS-1 and UHS-3, UHS-3 is four times faster than UHS-1, but only on devices that support additional pins.

UHS-1 and UHS-3 have a single row of pins on the back of the card, which means that the data transfer speed can reach around 100MB and 400MB.

However, the UHS-3 card has a second row of pins on the back of the card, indicating that UHS-3 has a faster transfer rate.

It should be noted that UHS-1 and UHS-3 can have a UHS bus type of UHS-i, UHS-ii, or UHS-iii.

storage

When shopping for a new micro SD card, storage space is also an important factor to consider. U3 SD card has more storage space compared to U1.

The capacity of the U1 Micro SD card ranges from 16GB to 512GB. On the other hand, the U3 offers a capacity from a minimum size of 16 GB to a maximum size of 1 TB.

Therefore, due to the difference between the U1 and U3 specifications, U3 is more suitable for people who want to store large, hour-long video recordings.

class video speed

Video speed class is another important feature when comparing U3 to U1. On the front of the SD card, you'll see the letter "V" plus the Roman numeral, the symbol that stands for "Video Speed ​​Class."

U1 SD cards do not have the Video Speed ​​Class feature on top of the card. Therefore, it becomes difficult to identify the exact video speed class of this card.

The U3 SD card has the symbol "V" with the number 30 next to it at the top of the card. Therefore, the U3 Micro SD card offers more video recording options compared to the U1 model.

The V30 icon indicates that you can easily record 30 Mbps HD video without dropping a single frame. As of now, this feature is only available on SDXC cards.

Video Speed ​​Class was created to enable higher video resolution and recording capabilities, such as multiple video streams, 360-degree capture, virtual reality content, and 4K or 8K resolution video.

There are five video speed class ratings:

V6 - Video Speed ​​​​​​Class 6 with a minimum write speed of 5 MB per second.

V10: Video Speed ​​Class 10 with a minimum write speed of 10MB per second.

V30: Video speed is 30 with a write speed of 30MB per second.

V60: Video speed is 60 with a write speed of 60MB per second.

V90: Video speed is 90 with a write speed of 90MB per second.

This feature is unique in that it can use the UHS-1 and UHS-2 bus interfaces.

Speed ​​class V6 to V90 memory cards can use the UHS-ii bus interface, while the UHS-i bus interface only supports speed class V6 to V30 memory cards.

Different speed rating for SD card or micro SD card

Within the speed class there are different classifications, which are marked with the symbol "C". The different classes that the memory card comes in are:

C2 - Class 2 with a minimum write speed of 2 MB per second.

C4 - Class 4 with a minimum write speed of 4 MB per second.

C6 - Class 6 with a minimum write speed of 6 MB per second.

C10 - Class 10 with a minimum write speed of 10MB per second.

C2 is the lowest speed rating, while C10 is the industry standard. Today newer hardware devices require newer speed classes with higher speeds and capacities.

C10 is typically the minimum speed rating for most hardware devices made today and is the most commonly shipped memory card on the market.

About SD card speed

A speed class is specified on the front of each SD card. These "classes" determine the speed of the memory card. SD card speed can read and write at speeds of 12.5MB by default.

You need a faster memory card if you are shooting RAW or HD video. If you just want to store a few photos or documents, you don't need a faster memory card.

With the development of SD cards, the ultra high speed class is now available on many SDXC and SDHC micro SD cards.

A faster memory card supports larger files and processes them faster. So if you're shooting in 4K or RAW files, you'll need an equally powerful SD card to keep up with all those files.

How to choose an SD card

There are many types of SD cards: SD, SDHC, and SDXC. Since SD cards have been known to shrink in size in recent years, the "SD" card can be considered a "full size" card.

It is used in most modern digital cameras and almost all laptops come with an SD card reader slot fitted.

SDHC stands for Secure Digital High Capacity. This type was introduced to cover SD cards with capacities greater than 2 GB and less than 32 GB.

SDXC stands for "Secure Digital eXtra Capacity", which goes well beyond 32GB.

It's worth noting that all of these types of SD cards look the same, so they all fit into a regular SD card slot.

What you should be careful of is buying an SD card depending on the device you want to use it on and if they are compatible, otherwise problems may arise.

Diploma

U3 Micro SD card is better than U1 card in transfer speed, video speed class and ultra high speed class. So between U1 or U3, U3 is the ideal choice for all users.

UHS I vs. Class 10 Cards