As you know, most Android phones can get extended storage capacity with an micro SD card. Ever since Android 6.0 Marshmallow it’s also possible to run apps from SD cards. This does require a minimum performance and therefore the SD Association now marks suitable SD cards with the “A1-Class”.

The SD Association has announced (PDF) a new specification called ‘Application Performance Class’ that should make clear that Android applications run smoothly from micro SD cards with the logo reports myce.

SD cards are already categorized in performance classes like Class 10, UHS1 and UHS3. The fast UHS cards will have no issues running apps but to make it even easier, the SD Association now introduces the A1-Class. The ‘A’ means App in this case. A SD card that is labeled with A1 is specified to meet or exceed random reads of  1500 IOPS, random writes of 500 IOPS and sustained sequential performance of 10MB/s.

You will have noticed the number in there, obviouslyt when time passes and faster SD cards are needed, the SD Association can upgrade to a A2 Class or even higher.

Android Gets SD Card A1 Logo Certification