Microsoft seems to be ready with new Xbox expandable storage options from other manufacturers. A new Western Digital 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series S/X consoles has been spotted early on at Best Buy, priced at $179.99. It’s the first time we’ve seen Xbox expandable storage not made by Seagate.
Microsoft originally launched Xbox expandable memory cards with its Xbox Series S/X consoles almost three years ago. The 1TB cards were priced at $219.99 and manufactured exclusively by Seagate. While we’ve seen 512GB and 2TB options appear from Seagate, prices have remained stubbornly high, despite comparable storage for PS5 consoles dropping significantly.
An additional manufacturer for expandable Xbox storage is much needed and will hopefully help push prices in the right direction. Best Buy’s listing of the Western Digital C50 1TB expansion card is $40 less than the Seagate model. At $179.99, it’s still way too expensive for 1TB of storage, especially if you can find a Samsung 980 Pro 1TB PCIe Gen4 drive for $79.99 straight away.
Microsoft decided to go with proprietary storage for its Xbox Series X/S consoles, which makes setup a lot more customer-friendly. But pricing has suffered from just one manufacturer. Sony instead opted for a fairly standard M.2 SSD expandable storage slot, which allows PS5 owners to use a variety of drives on the market. You can even use slow PCIe Gen4 drives on the PS5.
It’s not clear when Western Digital’s new 1TB expansion card for Xbox will be available. The Best Buy listing has no pre-order dates, so we’ve reached out to both Western Digital and Xbox to comment on the offer.
