Toshiba Prepping 32 GB SDHC Card, 8 GB microSDHC Card

Toshiba has announced plans to release some very small memory cards with some very high capacities.

In January of next year, the company will introduce a 32 GB using the relatively new SecureDigital High Capacity (SDHC) format. A 16 GB version will be out a few months earlier.

This format was created to replace the aging SD card format. Although standard SD and SDHC cards look identical in size and shape, the SDHC format supports much greater storage capacities.

Unfortunately, only SDHC-compatible products are able to accept cards using the new format, and there aren't very many handhelds or smartphones on the market that support SDHC yet.

Good News for Smartphone Users

At the same time it introduces its new SDHC cards, Toshiba also plans to launch an 8 GB microSDHC card.

As its name suggests, this will be much smaller than the full-size SDHC cards, but have the same advantages -- and limitations.

Smartphones with microSDHC support are starting to hit the market now. For example, all of HTC's Windows Mobile 6 models support this format.

So Soon?

In its present incarnation, SDHC has a maximum capacity of 32 GB. This means that even though this new format was introduced only a couple of years ago, it will soon reach its maximum capacity.

Of course, the initial 32 GB SDHC cards will likely debut at very high prices, and it will be some time before they come down to a point where the average consumer can afford one.

In addition, a 32 GB microSD card isn't expected any time soon.