Why did tech companies kill the SD card? The official excuses involve waterproofing, limited space, and slower performance. But the real reason may be far more profitable. Expandable storage allowed customers to own their files without paying smartphone manufacturers hundreds of dollars for storage upgrades or monthly cloud subscriptions. This video examines how Apple, Samsung, Google, and other major technology companies shifted consumers from physical storage toward expensive internal memory and cloud services. A tiny increase in flash memory can cost manufacturers relatively little, yet customers are charged hundreds more for higher-capacity phones. Without a microSD slot, users are forced to upgrade, delete files, or rent additional storage every month. We also explore the risks of cloud dependency, including lost accounts, automated AI moderation, subscription lock-in, and the possibility of losing access to years of photos, emails, contacts, and personal files. Unlike physical storage, cloud data remains controlled by the company hosting it. The SD card wasn’t removed because the technology stopped working, it stood in the way of recurring revenue and corporate control over your digital life. 00:34 - When AI Deletes Your Digital Life 02:08 - The Rise of Data Tenancy 02:36 - Why Tech Companies Removed Features 04:32 - The SD Card Heist 06:37 - The Size and Waterproofing Lies 08:29 - The Speed Myth 10:38 - The $600 Cloud Ransom 12:24 - The Services Empire 13:48 - The Fight for Digital Ownership Narrated by: Josh Risser 🔔 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE! 🔔 SUGGEST A TOPIC: https://bit.ly/suggest-an-infographics-video 💬 Come chat with me: https://discord.gg/theinfoshow 🔖 MY SOCIAL PAGES TikTok ► https://www.tiktok.com/@theinfographicsshow Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/TheInfographicsShow 📝 SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/Q6w0X2TU All videos are based on publicly available information unless otherwise noted.
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Whenever you hear "The Cloud" just replace it with "Someone Else's Computer." Do you want your photos, contacts, personal information, etc. on someone else's computer? If it's important make a backup
Remember you don’t hate theses companies enough
Cloud Storage just means "stored somewhere you don't control."
This is why people buy hard drives, but AI is taking that too.
Just remember cloud storage is a physical location, and never truly safe
Google drive is even more insidious. They limit your download speeds. such that if you do decided to pull your files back down to your local drive it takes FAR longer to do that than it took to upload them. They are making it painful to reclaim your data.
I back up EVERYTHING in flash drives and external HDD. I don't trust _anyone._
Time to get a flash drive for our phones to save our pictures & videos locally.
I have never trusted a company with my private data let alone something as priceless as my personal photos, and never will.
There is nothing more secure than your own disk at home. We see how it can end else.
The main issue with cloud computing these days is that most phones and even laptops AUTOMATICALLY upload files into them when you sign onto an account without ever asking for permission. You have to manually disable this feature every time. The vast majority of people have no idea how to do this or even that they should.
ONLY USE CLOUD STORAGE WHEN YOU ARE RECORDING THE POLICE!
My kids went back to owning a digital camera and we store our photos on old laptops and external drives. I will NEVER willingly pay for a cloud storage
Am I the only one who suspects that the point of iCloud storage was less to have another “service” to “sell” us and more to have the option of eavesdropping on our private photos and videos?
This is why I hung on to phones with SD cards as long as I could.
The Fappening. I think a lot of people still remember that.
And this is why I have 3 RAID5 drives, 122TB of storage LOCALLY. All my movies, music, photo's, book research, etc. I also still buy BluRay and PS5 discs. There's been too many incidents og Amazon taking away content you purchased because they lost the license and you were only "renting" it. You never truly own digital.
They had these things when I was a kid called a photo album.
Soon they'll be selling us air
This is why I kept my Galaxy S10 for almost 5 years. When I upgraded I bought a refurbished Galaxy S20 which is the last Galaxy with microSD storage.