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The best microSD cards in 2024

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The best microSD cards in 2024

Most microSD cards are fast enough for boosting storage space and making simple file transfers, but some provide a little more value than others. If you’ve got a device that still accepts microSD cards — whether it’s a gaming handheld, a dash cam, a drone or an Android tablet — we’ve scoured the market and put more than a dozen top contenders through a number of benchmark tests. You can find our top recommendations below, alongside some general shopping advice before you grab one.

The first thing to figure out when buying a microSD card is how much storage space you need. Modern cards are usually available in sizes ranging from 32GB to 512GB, while an increasing number are available in 1TB as well. 2TB cards from reputable manufacturers are getting closer but aren’t widely available just yet.

For most, a 128GB or 256GB model should be the sweet spot between price and storage space. But if you need more room — say, for stashing a bunch of games on a Steam Deck — a 512GB or greater card could make more sense and often provides a better cost-per-GB ratio. These days, you can find a decent 128GB card for around $15 or less, a good 256GB card for less than $30 and a solid 512GB card for less than $40 (though many cost closer to $50 or $60). There’s a starker increase when you go up to 1TB cards, which typically cost closer to $100.

Note that a microSD card’s performance may differ depending on what capacity you buy. SanDisk says its 128GB Extreme card delivers sequential write speeds up to 90 MB/s, for example, while the higher-capacity models in the same line offer up to 130 MB/s.

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When we talk about microSD cards today, we usually refer to cards that use the microSDXC (eXtended Capacity) standard, which have a capacity between 32GB and 2TB. Your device needs to support this for it to work with a microSDXC card. This will almost never be an issue these days, but some older devices (a Nintendo 3DS, for instance) are only compatible with microSDHC (High Capacity) cards, which range from 2GB to 32GB.

MicroSD cards are primarily judged on their read and write speeds, which are usually measured in megabytes per second (MB/s). Generally, most microSD cards have faster read speeds than write speeds.

These metrics can then be broken down into sequential and random performance. Sequential read and write speeds matter when you’re trying to access or save long, constant streams of data, such as opening a large video or copying a big batch of files from a PC. If you want to use a microSD card for media storage, this is particularly important. Random performance, meanwhile, is about how quickly a card can read and write small files scattered throughout the device.

Since random read/write speeds are much lower than sequential ones, storage device makers tend not to advertise them as loudly. But they’re important if you use a card with a gaming device or a single-board computer like the Raspberry Pi, where it often has to rapidly save and access small bits of data in random locations.

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A chart from the SD Association explaining how its various speed class ratings work.

SD Association

If you look at a microSD card, you’ll see a buffet of numbers, letters and symbols. Most of these refer to the card’s speed class and performance ratings, which are determined by the SD Association.

A card’s Video Speed Class, or V-rating, details its minimum sequential write speed, which is especially important when recording video from a camera. It ranges from V6 to V90. Most of the cards we tested had a V30 rating, so they have a sequential write speed of at least 30 MB/s. This should be enough to support up to 4K video at lower bitrates. Higher-rated V60 and V90 cards are usually better for capturing 8K, but they come at a much higher cost.

The UHS Speed Class, or U-rating, also refers to a card’s minimum sequential write speed. It comes in two varieties: U3, which mandates a minimum of 30 MB/s, and U1, which is rated for 10 MB/s.

The older Speed Class rating overlaps with the other two systems. It’s signified by a C symbol and goes from Class 2 to Class 10, with the number (again) indicating minimum sequential write speed. This rating is less relevant nowadays, but you may still see a “C10” logo on some cards.

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The Application Performance spec, marked by an A symbol, is an indicator of random read/write speeds. This is measured in IOPS, or input/output operations per second, rather than MB/s. There are two categories here: A1 cards offer a minimum random read speed of 1,500 IOPS and a minimum random write speed of 500 IOPS, while A2 cards bump those up to 4,000 IOPS and 2,000 IOPS, respectively. Both ratings also guarantee sequential write speeds of at least 10 MB/s.

To keep it simple, most people should look for a card with V30, U3 and A2 ratings. It’s totally possible to get a solid card without those: A U1 card might be worth it if you just need a cheap, high-capacity option, for example. V60 and V90 cards are worth a look if you’re serious about shooting high-resolution photos and video as well. But overall, cards with the certifications above should provide the best blend of price and performance today.

It’s important to emphasize that these ratings are baselines. Most V30 cards offer significantly higher write speeds than 30 MB/s, for instance, and some A1 cards can outperform some A2 models in practice. The speeds advertised by manufacturers aren’t always 100 percent accurate, either: Sometimes the card will be slower in real-world use, other times it may actually be a bit faster.

The other spec to note is the card’s bus interface. Most microSD cards available today are UHS-I, which have a theoretical maximum speed of 104 MB/s. There are also UHS-II cards, which have an extra row of pins on the back and can reach up to 312 MB/s. (A UHS-III standard exists as well but hasn’t seen wide adoption.) These are labeled on the card with a Roman numeral I or II.

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The fastest microSD cards you can buy right now are UHS-II cards, and they’re usually the ones with V60 or V90 ratings. If you shoot lots of 4K to 8K video or frequently use burst mode to capture ultra high-res photos, the performance gains of a good UHS-II card can save you time.

But these are much more expensive than UHS-I cards: This 128GB Lexar Professional Gold model, for instance, is a relative bargain at $40. While that’s less than many UHS-II models we’ve seen in the past, it’s still more than double the typical price of our top pick mentioned below. You need a device that’s compatible with the UHS-II interface to see any benefits, too, and stock for UHS-II cards is generally spottier. For now, the higher speeds aren’t worth the price premium for most people, so we stuck mostly to UHS-I cards here.

We’ll also note Samsung’s announcement earlier this year of a new 256GB microSD card based on an entirely different standard called SD Express. This is theoretically much faster than any UHS-I or UHS-II option: Samsung claims this specific model can reach sequential read speeds up to a whopping 800 MB/s. For context, that’d be quicker than some older SSDs. SD Express has technically been around for several years but hasn’t seen wide adoption, so exactly how this card performs in reality — and how much it’ll cost — remains to be seen. We’ll test the device once it becomes available, which Samsung says will be sometime later in 2024.

Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch OLED, face down

Kris Naudus / Engadget

While the UHS-I spec has a theoretical maximum of 104 MB/s, some UHS-I cards can exceed that speed through proprietary extensions. You need a compatible card reader and host device to take advantage of that extra performance, though. If you find a UHS-I card advertising speeds higher than 104 MB/s, this is what’s going on. You can see these limits in action with a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck: Both of those gaming devices support the UHS-I interface and don’t go beyond its official speed, flattening any sequential gains some cards may have elsewhere. The broader takeaway: Your microSD card will only be as fast as the slowest link in your chain.

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Many microSD cards are designed to be durable, with protection from water, extreme temperatures, X-rays and drops. Still, in case of catastrophe, a long warranty is always good to have. Many manufacturers offer lifetime or 10-year limited warranties, though we’ve noticed that “endurance” cards marketed to withstand more hours of writing are usually covered for a shorter period of time. For example, Samsung’s Pro Endurance, a model aimed at security cameras and other monitoring devices, comes with a five-year warranty.

The memory card market has had a particular problem with scammers selling fake products. To guard against this, only buy from a known brand and a reputable retailer such as Best Buy, B&H Photo or Adorama. If you shop at Amazon, only buy if the shipper and seller is Amazon.com. (Though a handful of users have reported receiving counterfeits even from Amazon directly in the past.) Remember: If a price seems too good to be true, it probably is. Be wary of any retailer offering significantly a lower price than others.

Once you receive a card, check its packaging for any irregularities. You can run benchmark tests like CrystalDiskMark or BlackMagic Disk Speed Test to verify its speeds aren’t drastically lower than what’s advertised (or possible, given its specs). You can also use software that’s designed to verify the true capacity and performance of your card, such as H2testw and FakeFlashTest.

We put 13 microSD cards through a series of tests to verify their sequential and random performance. These included benchmarks like CrystalDiskMark, BlackMagic Disk Speed Test, ATTO Disk Benchmark and AJA System Test, as well as a few “real-world” tests. We copied and pasted a small folder of photos about 1.15GB in size to and from each card, then did the same with a larger 12.2GB folder containing multiple file types and subfolders, timing the process each time. We also checked how each card performed on the Steam Deck, downloading games of varying sizes — including Stardew Valley, Aperture Desk Job, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Apex Legends — then timing how long it took to launch each game and load save files.

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We used a Kingston USB 3.2 UHS-II reader to test each card on both Windows 11 and macOS Sonoma. For the former, we used an Alienware gaming PC with an Intel Core i9-10900F, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. For the latter, we used a 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro with an Apple M1 Pro chip, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. To use our card reader on the MacBook, we used Apple’s USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter.

We tested the 128GB version of each card wherever possible, though for a few cards — SanDisk’s Extreme and Samsung’s Pro Plus and Pro Ultimate — we were only able to test their 256GB models. We also reformatted each card before testing with the SD Association’s Memory Card Formatter tool.

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Storage capacity: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Speed classes: U3, V30, A2, Class 10 | Warranty: 10-year limited

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The Samsung Pro Plus was nearly the fastest card we tested in terms of sequential write performance (around 130 MB/s in CrystalDiskMark) and was a close second in terms of random read/write speeds, so it should work great whether you’re buying for a camera, Android tablet or gaming handheld. Unsurprisingly, it has all the requisite ratings: U3, V30 and A2. Its sequential read performance (around 165 MB/s) isn’t quite as quick as some of the other cards below, so it’s not the absolute fastest for accessing large files stored on your card, but the difference is small in real-world use. 

The main reason the Pro Plus tops our list is because it delivers those strong speeds at a relatively affordable price. The card originally started at $19 for 128GB, $30 for 256GB and $60 for 512GB, but past sales have brought those models as low as $11, $18 and $29, respectively. When it’s that cheap, the Pro Plus makes most competing microSD cards redundant. Samsung also sells the card with a USB reader that’ll help it reach its maximum speeds for a few dollars more. If you need more space, there’s also a 1TB model that should be just as fast, though that one is currently much more expensive at $110. Either way, the card comes with a 10-year limited warranty.

If you opt to buy the Pro Plus, make sure you get the latest-generation model. Samsung is still selling the prior iteration of the Pro Plus, which looks identical but isn’t as quick. Instead, opt for the one with sequential read speeds rated at 180 MB/s and sequential write speeds rated at 130 MB/s. We tested the 256GB version of the newer Pro Plus due to stock issues with the 128GB model at the time of testing, but this shouldn’t have a major impact on real-world performance, as Samsung rates both cards identically. 

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Pros
  • Consistently quick sequential and random read/write performance
  • Great value
  • Readily available at trusted retailers
  • Has a 1TB option
Cons
  • Some peers have slightly faster sequential read speeds

$21 at Amazon (128GB)

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Storage capacity: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | Speed classes: U3, V30, A2, Class 10 | Warranty: 10-year limited

The Samsung Pro Ultimate is a step-up model in Samsung’s microSD lineup and, as expected, it’s a little bit faster than the Pro Plus across the board. Its biggest gains are in sequential read speeds, which were the fastest we tested and averaged close to Samsung’s advertised rate rate of 200 MB/s across our various benchmarks. You’ll need to buy the card with Samsung’s USB reader to achieve that performance, but that could be worth it if you regularly move files from your microSD card to a PC. The Pro Ultimate technically led the pack when it came to sequential write and random read/write speeds as well, though the margins there are much less significant compared to the Pro Plus and the other top UHS-I cards we tested.

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The main question is cost. If you see the Pro Ultimate available for the same price as the Pro Plus, you might as well grab it instead. It comes with the same 10-year warranty and should be similarly durable. Past discounts have brought the 128GB, 256GB and 512GB models as low as $15, $25 and $45, respectively; that’s still affordable, but the Pro Plus will almost always be a little bit cheaper — and thus a better value for most needs, especially at higher capacities. There’s no 1TB option here, either. 

Pros
  • Fastest microSD card we tested (with appropriate USB reader)
  • Easily available at trusted retailers
Cons
  • Pro Plus is better value for most
  • No 1TB model

$22 at Samsung Electronics

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

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Storage capacity: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Speed classes: U3, V30, A2, Class 10 | Warranty: Lifetime limited

If the Samsung Pro Plus ever jumps too high in price or becomes unavailable, the Kingston Canvas Go Plus is another strong alternative. This is a U3-, V30- and A2-rated card backed by a lifetime limited warranty. Its sequential read speeds trailed only the Samsung Pro Ultimate across CrystalDiskMark, ATTO and the BlackMagic Disk Speed Test. It effectively tied with SanDisk’s Extreme and Nintendo Switch-branded cards in our large file transfer speeds test. Sequential write speeds (just over 100 MB/s on CrystalDiskMark) are where it lags behind the Pro Plus, but they should still be quick enough for many uses. Its random read/write speeds were only bested by Samsung’s Pro cards in benchmarks, so it’s still a good option for apps and games. The 1TB version is also $20 cheaper than the equivalent Pro Plus, so it should be a decent value if you need lots of space and want to save cash. But the other models are hard to justify if you see them hovering in the same price range as our picks above.

Pros
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  • Faster sequential write speeds than Pro Plus for a (typically) lower price than Pro Ultimate
  • Lifetime limited warranty
  • Has a 1TB option
Cons
  • Pro Plus is usually a better value for most
  • Slower sequential write speeds than picks above

$17 at B&H Photo (128GB)

Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Storage capacity: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB (“new generation” model only) | Speed classes: U3, V30, A2, Class 10 / (64GB) U1, V10, A1, Class 10 | Warranty: 10-year limited

The Samsung Evo Select is a clear step behind our top picks, particularly when it comes to sequential write speeds (just under 70 MB/s on CrystalDiskMark), so it’s not ideal for cameras. Still, it’s perfectly usable for many use cases — a Nintendo Switch, for instance — and we’ve previously seen its 128GB, 256GB and 512GB models fall as low as $10, $14 and $25, respectively. All of those are about on par with the SanDisk Ultra, an oft-recommended cheapo card, despite the Evo Select having higher V30, U3 and A2 ratings. While the Pro Plus has come close to those prices, the Evo Select almost always retails for less.

Similar to the Pro Plus, you can now find two versions of the Evo Select: a “standard” model with sequential read speeds rated at 130 MB/s, and a “new generation” model that bumps that spec up to 160 MB/s. Since the point of this recommendation is to give you a card that performs well enough for as little as possible, you should get whichever one is cheaper in the capacity you want. The new model did indeed deliver those improved reads in our benchmarks, but it performs just about identically otherwise, so you won’t lose much by saving a few bucks with the older generation. 

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The one big difference is that the updated model is the only one available in a 1TB capacity; we haven’t tested that specific model, but at $80-ish it should be worth a look if pricing is your only concern. 

Pros
  • Often available for lower price than Pro Plus
  • Solid performance if you just want an acceptable card for cheap
  • Has a 1TB option
Cons
  • Slower than picks above, particularly in sequential write and random performance benchmarks

$15 at Amazon

The SanDisk Extreme and PNY Elite-X microSD cards.

The SanDisk Extreme and PNY Elite-X. (Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget)

We didn’t use it ourselves, but if you’re willing to pay for a more powerful UHS-II card built for heavy-duty video recording, the Delkin Devices Power has tested well elsewhere and should deliver significantly faster sequential write speeds than our picks above. It’s one of the few UHS-II cards we could actually find in stock, but it costs a ton, with a 128GB model normally priced around $90.

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The SanDisk Extreme effectively matched the Pro Plus in a few of our sequential write tests and delivered sequential reads about on par with the Canvas Go Plus, but that was partly due to us only being able to secure the card’s 256GB model, which is higher-rated than the 128GB version. It’s a fine choice if you see it on sale at a reputable seller, but its random performance lagged behind the Samsung Pro and Kingston cards, and it often costs more.

SanDisk's microSDXC Card for Nintendo Switch.

SanDisk’s Nintendo Switch-branded microSDXC card. (Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget)

The SanDisk microSDXC Card for Nintendo Switch is another decent option if you ever see it available for less than the Pro Plus and Canvas Go Plus. Its sequential read speeds were about the same as the latter in our benchmarks, but its sequential writes were slightly slower (and farther behind the Pro Plus). Its random read/writes were a bit behind according to CrystalDiskMark as well, and it’s often priced higher than our top pick. SanDisk backs the card with a lifetime warranty, however, plus it’s available in a 1TB capacity. Note that we tested the Apex Legends version of the 128GB card; SanDisk also sells a Super Mario model, but we can’t say if that one performs any differently.

Similarly, the Lexar Professional 1066x is a decent alternative to the Pro Plus if our main picks are unavailable. It’s another V30, U3 and A2 model, and like Samsung’s card, its sequential write speeds were a bit faster than the Canvas Go Plus and SanDisk Switch card in our benchmarks. Those write speeds weren’t as quick as the Pro Plus, and its sequential reads trailed all three cards. Random read/writes also lagged behind the Pro Plus and Canvas Go Plus, and we noticed its speeds peak and dip more noticeably in our file transfer test. Still, it’s not slow, so depending on its price, it might be a good bargain if you need fast write speeds for video recording and the like. It’s also available in 1TB, plus it comes with a lifetime limited warranty.

The SanDisk Extreme Pro is a rival to the Samsung Pro Ultimate but, as of this writing, is either unavailable at most trusted retailers or priced too high by comparison.

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The PNY Elite-X often goes for cheap and wasn’t too far off the random read/write performance of Samsung’s Pro cards in CrystalDiskMark, but it was well behind in our sequential tests.

November 2024: We’ve checked back with this guide to ensure our recommendations are still accurate and made light edits for clarity.

August 2024: We’ve updated this guide to note the recently released 1TB models for three of our top picks: the Samsung Pro Plus, the Kingston Canvas Go Plus and the Samsung Evo Select. We’ve also made sure all pricing details are as up to date as they can be.

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Motorola Razr 50s Ultra design unveiled via certification listing

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4 mins ago

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November 7, 2024

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Motorola Razr 50s Ultra design unveiled via certification listing

Recently, 91mobiles spotted the Motorola Razr 50s Ultra on two certification platforms—Wireless Power Consortium and SGS Fimko Testing & Certification Services.

Motorola launched the Motorola Razr (2024) (review) and Motorola Razr Motorola Razr+ (2024) in the US back in June this year. The models are called the Motorola Razr 50 and Motorola Razr 50 Ultra respectively outside the States. However, the company also appears to be working on two more devices under the Razr 50 series – the Motorola Razr 50s and Motorola Razr 50s Ultra. The Motorola Razr 50s previously appeared on Geekbench with a single and multi-core score of 1040 and 3003 respectively.

Motorola Razr 50s Ultra design and specifications

In the latest news, the Motorola Razr 50s Ultra has appeared on the Wireless Power Consortium with model number XT2451-6. In terms of design, the Motorola Razr 50s Ultra closely resembles the Razr 50 Ultra, featuring a rounded middle frame and a large external display with two distinct cutouts for the rear camera setup.

The inner display features a center-positioned punch-hole cutout for the selfie camera and narrow bezels. This is similar to those on other models in the Razr 50 series. The volume rocker and power button are located on the right edge, with the SIM tray on the left side—similar to the existing models. At the bottom, there’s a USB Type-C port, speaker vents, and a microphone opening.

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The bottom portion appears to have a leather finish and houses the iconic Razr branding.

According to the listing, the maximum load power this device can utilize is ‘15.0,’ which hints at 15W charging support. For context, the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra supports 45W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. In contrast, the standard Razr 50 supports slightly slower 30W wired charging, along with 15W wireless charging support.

The Motorola Razr 50s Ultra could come with a total of six variants

The SGS Fimko Testing & Certification Services listing for the phone reveals a total of six variants for this device: XT2451-1, XT2451-2, XT2451-3, XT2451-4, XT2451-5, and XT2451-6.

Additionally, the ‘Technical data’ and ‘Specific characteristics’ sections list ’11V 4A’, suggesting support for 44W fast charging. This implies that the ‘15.0’ notation on the Wireless Power Consortium listing likely refers to 15W wireless charging support, while the device still offers faster speeds, up to 44W, with wired charging similar to other models in the lineup.

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Brace yourself for M4 speed

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27 mins ago

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November 7, 2024

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Brace yourself for M4 speed

Apple’s excellent MacBook Pros are faster than ever with its new M4 chips. That’s it, that’s the review. Their screens are slightly brighter, and the 14-inch model now starts with 16GB of RAM, but otherwise these are the same laptops that have been around since the M1 Pro redesign in 2021. Really, though, it’s not as if Apple had much to improve on. The MacBook Pros have been among our favorite premium laptops for years — now they’re just better.

When I last reviewed Apple’s MacBook Pros, I concluded by saying, “Just try to save up for 16GB of RAM.” Now, thanks to the increasing memory demands of Apple Intelligence, that’s not something anyone will have to worry about again. That makes the $1,599 14-inch MacBook Pro a far better deal than before (you previously had to add on another $200 to get to 16GB). The 16-inch model, which starts at $2,499 with 24GB of RAM, is also a better choice for big-screen fans since its M4 Pro chip is a tremendous upgrade over last year’s hardware.

Apple

Apple’s 14-inch MacBook Pro is better than ever thanks to its M4 chips, Thunderbolt 5 support and slightly brighter screens.

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Pros
  • Fast M4 chips
  • Brighter display
  • Sharp 12MP Center Stage webcam
  • Thunderbolt 5 with M4 Pro/Max
  • Long battery life

$1,599 at Adorama

Apple

Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro is better than ever thanks to its M4 chips, Thunderbolt 5 support and slightly brighter screens.

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Pros
  • Fast M4 chips
  • Brighter display
  • Sharp 12MP Center Stage webcam
  • Thunderbolt 5 with M4 Pro/Max
  • Long battery life

$2,450 at Amazon

The star of the show this year are Apple’s new M4, M4 Pro chips and M4 Max chips. The M4 features a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, while the Pro bumps up to a 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU. The Max model, as usual, goes even harder: It features a 16-core CPU and a whopping 40-core GPU.

As you’d expected, the prices for those more powerful chips escalate dramatically: The M4 Pro 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999 ($400 more than the base model), while the M4 Max model starts at $3,199. At least you get slight RAM and storage bumps with those pricier chips, the M4 Pro starts with 24GB of RAM, while the Max model includes 36GB RAM and a 1TB SSD.

Aside from dramatically better chips, all of the new MacBook Pros feature MiniLED Liquid Retina XDR screens that can reach up to 1,000 nits for SDR (standard dynamic range) content. That’s a 400-nit increase from before, and it should help make content far more visible in daylight or in very bright rooms. (HDR content, as usual, can push the display even further to a peak of 1,600 nits.) There’s also a nano-texture glass option (for a $150 surcharge) that can make the screens more glare resistant, which is useful for working in bright environments. Note, however, that it can also make the screen appear less sharp.

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Apple MacBook Pro (2024) webcam view
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

Apple also upgraded the MacBook Pros’ webcams to 12-megapixels, a major leap over the previous 1080p camera. (Apple hasn’t confirmed the megapixel figure for that camera, but it’s likely around 2MP, the bare minimum to reach 1080p). Having a higher resolution camera also opens the door for Center Stage, which can keep you in focus as you move around your room.

Apple MacBook Pro (2024) Desk View on macOS

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

I didn’t hate Apple’s previous webcams, but mostly that’s because I remember how mediocre its older 720p webcams used to be. The new models look far sharper with more accurate colors, and the overall image doesn’t look as heavily filtered as the previous cameras. They also support Desk View (above), Apple’s helpful feature for showing off objects below your screen.

If you’re often dealing with large file transfers, you might also appreciate support for Thunderbolt 5 on the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. It can support up to 120 Gb/s speeds, up from 40 Gb/s in Thunderbolt 4, which the standard M4 chip includes. That could make a huge difference if you’re moving terabytes worth of 4K and 8K videos onto external drives – just note you’ll need to invest in similarly equipped Thunderbolt 5 storage. Thunderbolt 5 could potentially allow for external AI accelerators (unfortunately, Apple Silicon doesn’t support external GPUs).

Apple MacBook Pro (2024) 14-inch and 16-inch side-by-side
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

I didn’t really expect much from the new MacBook Pros, especially since the previous M3 models were already very impressive. But, once again, Apple managed to surprise me with its mobile hardware. The M4 chip, which was in our 14-inch review unit, was a solid performer. But the M4 Pro in our 16-inch MacBook Pro was an astonishing leap ahead of its predecessor, and it’s also faster than every other computer we’ve tested this year (aside from the new Mac mini, which also had a M4 Pro chip).

Unfortunately, we didn’t have an M4 Max-equipped MacBook Pro to test, but given that it’s filled with more M4 CPU and GPU cores, I’d expect another major performance jump.

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Geekbench 6

Geekbench 6 GPU

Cinebench 2024

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4, 2024)

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3,797/14,571

37,869

172/979 GPU: 3770

Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024)

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3,925/22,456

70,197

178/1,689 GPU 9,295

Surface Laptop 7 (Snapdragon X Elite)

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2,797/14,400

19,963

123/969 GPU N/A

Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max, 2024)

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3,202/21,312

92,344

143/1,686 GPU 13,182

In Geekbench 6’s CPU benchmark, the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro scored 1,000 to 1,500 points higher than other recent laptops when it came to single-threaded work. Its multi-threaded performance lead was more slim, but it still beat out Intel’s new Lunar Lake chips and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite. The M4 Pro 16-inch MacBook Pro scored similarly for single-threaded work, but it blew the competition by 9,000 to 12,500 points. That performance gap alone is equivalent to the multi-threaded Geekbench 6 scores from other laptops this year! (It’s also slightly faster than last year’s M3 Max chip in the 16-inch MacBook Pro, another major achievement.)

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Cinebench 2024 scores tell a similar story. Both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro scored well above the competition in the single-threaded test. The M4 system was on-par with the best multi-threaded scores we saw from the Surface Laptop 7 (powered by a Snapdragon X Elite chip) and HP Omnibook Ultra 14 (AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375). But the M4 Pro 16-inch MacBook Pro, once again, handily outclassed other systems with its multithreaded score, which was nearly double what we’ve been seeing throughout the year.

Cinebench’s GPU benchmark puts the M4 Pro’s graphics performance in line with NVIDIA’s RTX 4070 in Dell’s XPS 16, while the M4 chip is in line with the Framework Laptop 16’s Radeon 7700S. That’s all about what I expected after testing the Mac mini with an M4 Pro chip, and it’s simply astonishing to see that level of performance from a mobile-focused GPU.

Apple MacBook Pro (2024)

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

When it comes to games, the M4 Pro 16-inch MacBook Pro was able to maintain 60fps in Lies of P, Resident Evil 4 and Myst while playing in 1,440p with the graphics settings cranked to the max. 4K was possible, but typically slowed things down to around 30fps, which isn’t very playable on a computer. The M4 14-inch MacBook Pro, meanwhile, handled those same games in 1080p at 60fps. We typically wouldn’t recommend gaming much on Macs, but Apple’s graphics hardware is hard to ignore at this point, and the company is also working to get more high profile titles in the App Store, like Remedy’s Control.

To put Apple’s Neural Engine to the test, I also used the Whisper Transcription app (AKA MacWhisper) to turn an hour and nine-minute long podcast episode into a transcript. The M4 14-inch MacBook Pro took three minutes and two seconds, while the M4 Pro 16-inch model took two minutes and 11 seconds (similar to what I saw on the M4 Mac mini). In comparison, an M3 14-inch MacBook Pro took three minutes and thirty-seven seconds.

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Apple MacBook Pro (2024)
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

While the speed upgrades are more than welcome, in my testing I noticed that both of the MacBook Pros’ screens were easier to see in bright sunlight. That alone isn’t enough to upgrade for if you’ve already got an M2 or M3 MacBook Pro, but it’s definitely something to look forward to. And even though Apple’s keyboard and enormous trackpad haven’t changed, they’re still among the best in the industry. I also still appreciate having a wide variety of ports on these systems: three USB-C connections (Thunderbolt 4 with the M4, Thunderbolt 5 with the M4 Pro), an HDMI port, a headphone jack, a MagSafe power connector and an SD card reader.

Both MacBook Pros also continue to deliver excellent battery life. The 14-inch lasted for 34 hours and 15 minutes while looping an HD video, whereas the 16-inch went for 30 hours and 16 minutes. That’s the first time we’ve seen our video rundown test go beyond 30 hours. In real-world usage, I could typically use both machines for general productivity work for two days without needing a recharge. That’s the benefit of relying on power-sipping mobile hardware.

Apple MacBook Pro (2024) bottom view

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

There’s no doubt these new MacBook Pros are compelling, especially if you need the raw power of the M4 Pro (or conceivably, the M4 Max). If you’re running an M1 MacBook Pro, or still trucking along with an Intel model, you’ll definitely see some notable performance gains from these machines. But if you’ve got an M2 or M3 MacBook Pro, the M4 hardware is less of a qualitative leap. You’re probably better off waiting for the eventual OLED refresh, which is rumored to happen in 2026.

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MIPS releases RISC-V CPU for autonomous vehicles

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November 7, 2024

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MIPS releases RISC-V CPU for autonomous vehicles

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MIPS released its P8700 CPU based on the RISC-V computing architecture to target driver assistance and autonomous vehicle applications.

The San Jose, California-based company, which focuses on developing efficient and configurable intellectual property compute, licenses its designs to other chip makers. Today, it is announcing the general availability launch of the MIPS P8700 Series RISC-V Processor.

Designed to meet the low-latency, highly intensive data movement demands of the most advanced automotive applications such as ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) and autonomous vehicles, the P8700 delivers accelerated compute, power efficiency and scalability, said Sameer Wasson, CEO of MIPS, in an interview with VentureBeat.

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“Automotive is a big segment where we focus. It continues being a very exciting place. Some companies came and some disappeared,” Wasson said. “They lost interest. They came out of COVID and refilled their inventory. But what’s happening in the industry right now is very interesting. I think autonomy is now coming back to that steady growth rate.”

He added, “It is one of the biggest driving forces to continue innovating in terms of bringing better solutions. If you think about the solutions today, most of the deployments in vehicles are driven by what used to be vehicle technology. That was basic microcontrollers, simple stuff. They could open and close doors, run internal combustion engines. As autonomy grows, you’re going to see compute needs evolve toward more AI network compute. That allows you to have higher levels of autonomy.”

“We have technology and we have a play in making it much more mainstream than it has been,” he said.

Mobileye chip with P8700 CPU from MIPS.

Typical solutions for ADAS and autonomous driving rely on a brute-force approach of embedding a higher number of cores at higher clock rates driving synthetic, albeit unrealistic and unrealized performance.

The P8700 with its multi-threaded and power-efficient architecture allows MIPS customers to implement fewer CPU cores and much lower thermal design power (TDP) than the current market solutions, thereby allowing OEMs to develop ADAS solutions in an affordable and highly scalable manner. It also mitigates the system bottlenecks of data movement inefficiency by providing highly efficient, optimized and lower power latency sensitive solution specifically tailored for interrupt laden multi-sensor platforms.

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“If you look at the RISC-V space overall, I think these spaces are ready for disruption, with a chance for new architectures coming in,” Wasson said. “Otherwise, EVs will be much more expensive than they need to be.”

For Level 2 or higher ADAS systems with AI Autonomous software stack, the MIPS P8700 can also offload core processing elements that cannot be easily quantized in deep learning and reduced by sparsity-based convolution processing functions, resulting in a greater than 30% better AI Stack software utilization and efficiency.

“The automotive market demands CPUs which can process a large amount of data from multiple sensors in real-time and feed the AI Accelerators to process in an efficient manner,” said Wasson. “The MIPS Multi-threading and other architectural hooks tailored for automotive applications, make it a compelling core for data intensive processing tasks. This will enable automotive OEMs to have high performance compute systems which consume less power and better utilize of AI Accelerators.”

The MIPS P8700 core, featuring multi-core/multi-cluster and multi-threaded CPU IP based on the RISC-V ISA, is now progressing toward series production with multiple major OEMs. Key customers like Mobileye (Nasdaq: MBLY) have embraced this approach for future products for self-driving vehicles and highly automated driving systems.

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“MIPS has been a key collaborator in our success with the EyeQ™ systems-on-chip for ADAS and autonomous vehicles,” said Elchanan Rushinek, executive vice president of engineering for Mobileye, in a statement. “The launch of the MIPS P8700 RISC-V core will help drive our continued development for global automakers, enabling greater performance and excellent efficiency in cost and power usage.” 

The P8700 Series is a high-performance out-of-order processor that implements the RISC-V RV64GC architecture, including new CPU and system-level features designed for performance, power, area form factors and additional proven features built on legacy MIPS micro-architecture deployed in more than 30+ car models today across the global OEM market.

Mobileye chip for vehicles with P8700 CPU from MIPs.

Engineered to deliver industry-leading compute density, MIPS’ latest processor harnesses three key architectural features, including MIPS out-of-order multi-threading, which enables execution of multiple
instructions from multiple threads (harts) every clock cycle, providing higher utilization and CPU efficiency.

It also has coherent multi-core, multi-cluster, where the P8700 Series scales up to 6 coherent P8700 cores in a cluster with each cluster supporting direct attach accelerators.

And it has functional safety designed to meet the ASIL-B(D) functional safety standard (ISO26262) by incorporating several fault detection capabilities such as end-to-end parity protection on address and data buses, parity protection on software visible registers, fault bus for reporting faults to the system, and
more.

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The MIPS P8700 processor is now available to the broader market, with key partnerships already in place. Shipments with OEM launches are expected shortly. MIPS has been around for three decades and billions of its chips have shipped to date.

In the past, Wasson said vendors were using the wrong computer architecture, which was built for entertainment and screen applications, rather than hardcore AI problems.

“What we are trying to do is go focus on building compute for ADAS and higher levels of autonomy, from the ground up,” he said.

Vasanth Waran, worldwide head of business development at MIPS, said in an interview with VentureBeat that other architectures have been pushing performance forward through brute force, adding more complexity and scaling, but not necessarily coming up with affordable designs.

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“If you want to bring it to a larger market, you want autonomy to be affordable, and you want it to scale,” Waran said. “There needs to be a more pure approach, given the lack of a better word, and that’s what motivated us. The 8700 from the ground up is where you can move data seamlessly between different parts of a design. If you look at a car, you have a lot of sensors with data coming in, from cameras, radar, LiDAR, in some cases, and the inputs from these need to be processed. It needs to be pushed out to an AI accelerator system. And then that data needs to help you make a decision.”

MIPS’ designs try to offload a lot of the performance from AI accelerators, whether it’s in pre-processing or post-processing. With a general-purpose processor, new software can be supported, and such software for AI accelerators is changing all the time.

RISC-V has been building up its ecosystem in the past couple of years, and its ecosystem is now at the right size to support applications.

“The other big thing that’s happening is software defined vehicles. Our products can be used for a holistic software-defined vehicle architecture,” Waran said. “We’re focused completely on the autonomous journey.”

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Wasson said his company will be at the CES 2025 event coming up in Las Vegas in January, where pitching automakers will be a big task for the company.


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The Matter smart home standard gains support for more devices, including heat pumps and solar panels

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November 7, 2024

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The Matter smart home standard gains support for more devices, including heat pumps and solar panels

It’s been two long years since the launch of Matter — the one smart home standard designed to rule them all — and there’s been a fair amount of disappointment around a sometimes buggy rollout, slow adoption by companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google, and frustrating set-up experiences.

However, the launch of the Matter 1.4 specification this week shows some signs that the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA, the organization behind Matter) is using more sticks and fewer carrots to get the smart home industry coalition to cooperate.  

The new spec introduces “enhanced multi-admin,” an improvement on multi-admin — the much-touted interoperability feature that means your Matter smart light can work in multiple ecosystems simultaneously. It brings a solution for making Thread border routers from different companies play nicely together and introduces a potentially easier way to add Matter infrastructure to homes through Wi-Fi routers and access points.

Arguably, these should have all been in place when Matter launched. But now, two years later, the CSA is finally implementing the fixes that could help move the standard forward. 

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These are all things that should have been in place when Matter launched.

Matter 1.4 also brings some big updates to energy management support, including adding heat pumps, home batteries, and solar panels as Matter device types.

Disappointingly, security cameras didn’t make it in this time. The CSA’s CTO, Chris LaPré, tells The Verge that while support for cameras is still part of the plan, there’s no timeline for a release. However, he points out that with 1.4, Matter now covers almost every other device category in the home. Which should provide a solid foundation to move the standard forward.

However, this week’s release is just the spec. Now that it’s out, device makers and platforms can start integrating the features into their products and ecosystems. Based on the slow rollout of support for devices and features in previous versions of Matter across both manufacturers and the major platforms, it could be a while until we see any impact from Matter 1.4. Additionally, not every device or ecosystem that works with Matter is required to adopt every part of the Matter spec, so all these features may not come to every ecosystem.

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The Verge reached out to Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung to ask if and when they planned to adopt any of the new features and device types in 1.4. As of publication, we had heard back from Amazon and Google. Both companies say they plan to adopt Matter 1.4 but didn’t provide a specific timeline.

“The Matter 1.4 update will start rolling out to supported Echo and Eero devices early next year,” says Amazon spokesperson Connor Rice. “Over time, we’ll continue to add support for new features and Matter device types as device makers release new products.” Google Home’s Jeannie Zhang said they’re actively working to implement the enhanced multi-admin feature and plan to bring support for new device types “in future.”

Here’s a look at the new features in Matter 1.4 that could be coming to your preferred Matter smart home platform someday, maybe soon.

Matter will make everyone play together nicely this time, promise

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One of Matter’s main promises is interoperability between platforms — if your smart plug is Matter-compatible, it will work with Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home, et al. But multi-admin, as this is called, stumbled out of the gate. Not only were there frequent setup frustrations for users when trying to pair a device from one ecosystem to another, but each ecosystem has a different flow and naming convention for the process, making it hard to figure out. It’s almost like they didn’t want you to use it.

“The Matter 1.4 update will start rolling out to supported Echo and Eero devices early next year.” Connor Rice, Amazon spokesperson

Now, “enhanced multi-admin” aims to fix this by automatically adding a Matter device you pair to your main platform to any other smart home platform you’ve authorized. Daniel Moneta, the CSA’s marketing chair, explains that this is enabled by something called Fabric Sync, which allows you to authorize different Fabrics (the name for an ecosystem in Matter) to talk to each other.

For example, you can allow your Amazon Alexa Fabric to talk to your Apple Home Fabric and share data about devices. “In this way, if a new device shows up on Fabric A, it can be automatically added to Fabric B,” says Moneta. However, it’s unclear whether the correct name and location of the new device will automatically disperse to the other platforms or if you’ll still have to enter those manually. That will be up to the platforms to implement, says Moneta.

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“It’s effectively just multi-admin, but all of the leg work that the users have to go through today — joining devices one at a time and generating the secondary code — all of that now happens automatically,” he says. “This is how a lot of users expected this to work in the first place — but the challenge was security, authorization, and consent, which makes those things more complicated. [Fabric Sync] addresses those concerns. It feels more seamless but is still as secure.” Importantly, he points out, the user is still authorizing a device onto their network and can turn off the connection anytime. 

What is Matter?

Matter is a smart home interoperability standard designed to provide a common language for connected devices to communicate locally in your home without relying on a cloud connection. It is built to be secure and private, easy to set up, and widely compatible.

Developed by Apple, Amazon, Google, and Samsung (and others), Matter is an open-sourced, IP-based connectivity software layer for smart home devices. It works over Wi-Fi, ethernet, and the low-power mesh networking protocol Thread and currently supports most of the main device types in the home. These include lighting, thermostats, locks, robot vacuums, refrigerators, dishwashers, dryers, ovens, smoke alarms, air quality monitors, EV chargers, and more.

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A smart home gadget with the Matter logo can be set up and used with any Matter-compatible ecosystem via a Matter controller and controlled by more than one with a feature called Multi-Admin.

Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and Apple Home are some major smart home platforms supporting Matter, along with hundreds of device manufacturers.

Enhanced multi-admin should make it possible, for example, to set up that new smart light just once using your iPhone and control it with Apple Home while also having it show up on your roommate’s Android phone, where they can control it in Google Home.

For more advanced smart homes, enhanced multi-admin should make it easier to use devices offered by ecosystems that aren’t your main platform to control your smart home. For example, Apple Home doesn’t have a smart display option. So, in theory, enhanced multi-admin will make it easier to use an Echo Hub or Google Home smart display as a physical interface in your household for controlling things like lights and locks, while using the Apple Home app and Siri on your iPhone and Apple Watch to control the same devices. Of course, this somewhat depends on the platforms supporting all the same device types in Matter, which they don’t currently.

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As with all Matter features, enhanced multi-admin is optional, so ecosystems don’t have to adopt it. However, Moneta says all the big players have been actively involved in developing this solution, and he expects to see them implement it over the next year.

Wi-Fi routers get a Matter upgrade

With 1.4, we’re finally seeing home routers, modems, access points, and set-top boxes — known collectively as HRAP — arrive in Matter. Despite being on the list of compatible devices since day one, it’s only now that routers can be Matter-certified. According to the CSA, “Matter-certified HRAP devices provide the foundational infrastructure of smart homes by combining both a Wi-Fi access point and a Thread Border Router.” 

The hope here is that if these common devices come with Matter baked in — or easily added via an OTA upgrade or dongle — it will speed up the adoption of Matter devices. A Matter-certified HRAP device will be both a Wi-Fi access point and a Thread border router, along with “specific Thread and Wi-Fi capabilities … to improve the functionality and user experience of Matter devices on home networks,” says Moneta. 

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These “capabilities” include Matter’s new solution for Thread network credential sharing, which lets the router securely store and share the credentials. This is one way to solve the problem of users unintentionally creating multiple Thread networks in their home if they get another device that is also a border router, such as an Apple HomePod or Google Nest Hub.

The Thread Group, which manages the protocol, is trying to solve this problem with its own fix, which it rolled out earlier this year. Plus, you can share Thread network credentials via your smartphone using APIs on Android and iOS. All these solutions achieve the same end result, says Moneta. 

“Your next ISP router should have everything you need for Matter,”  Daniel Moneta, CSA

A Matter-certified router should be able to act as a central hub for Matter, ensuring that any Matter device you have, whether it works over Thread or Wi-Fi, can join your home network securely, easily, and without you needing to buy additional hardware. “This solves the problem of having to think about infrastructure,” says Moneta. “Instead, your next ISP router should have everything you need for Matter.”  

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What a Matter-certified router doesn’t need to be is a Matter Controller — a device that links your Matter smart home devices to your chosen Matter platform, such as Apple Home or Amazon Alexa. Instead, the router can be platform agnostic. Meaning that your router from your internet service provider or your next cable set-top box could provide the Wi-Fi and Thread infrastructure for your smart home, and you would just need to add a Matter Controller from whichever ecosystem you want to use.

This also opens up the opportunity for ISPs and telecom providers, such as Comcast/Xfinity, Verizon, AT&T, etc., to create their own Matter-enabled smart home platforms. They’ve tried and largely failed to do this in the past, but Matter could make it easier to implement. 

Currently, Amazon and Google’s mesh Wi-Fi solutions — Eero and Nest Wifi — are Matter Controllers for their respective ecosystems, but they aren’t Matter-certified routers. Google’s Zhang said they plan to support Matter 1.4 on the Nest Wi-Fi Pro.

Energy management moves front and center

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Matter 1.4 expands the standard’s energy management capabilities to include more control and device types, including heat pumps, electric water heaters, battery energy storage systems, and solar power devices such as inverters, panels, and hybrid solar/battery systems. New functionality for these device types (see full details on the CSA’s website) also provides tools for companies and ecosystems to build energy management solutions on top of Matter. 

Other updates coming with Matter 1.4

The Matter 1.4 spec brings some improvements to already supported device types:

  • Smart home sensors that use advanced sensors such as mmWave, UWB, vision (through cameras), and other ambient sensing technologies can now be compatible with Matter platforms.
  • Motion sensors in Matter are getting more customizable sensitivity settings and other improvements that will make it easier to use them in more advanced Matter-based routines and automations.
  • Smart thermostats are getting support for scheduling and preset modes such as vacation and home/away settings. These modes can be triggered by other factors, including motion detection, other devices, or automation based on calendar events. 
  • Hardwired in-wall switches can now control devices other than lights in Matter. For example, smart switches that are wired to fans or other non-smart appliances can be identified as such in Matter platforms.
  • Matter 1.4 also continues work on improving battery life for battery-powered devices running Matter.

Developers can download the Matter 1.4 spec and SDK starting today.

“Matter 1.4 is a completion move,” says Chris LaPré. “It’s really the enabling piece for smart control of energy in your home.” Matter 1.3 added energy reporting, allowing devices such as home appliances, EV chargers, and HVAC systems to communicate data on their power usage and consumption. With 1.4, such devices can adjust start times based on how much energy they plan to use, shift usage during peak demand, and toggle between device-specific, local, or grid-wide energy. With 1.5, LaPré says they will add the final piece, enabling energy pricing information to be shared with devices.  

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Energy management is one of the more compelling use cases for the smart home and one that could encourage wider adoption. While today, some solutions help you balance your home’s electricity loads to use more energy when it’s cheaper or cleaner and work with demand response programs, many of these require proprietary apps, specific equipment, or a lot of legwork by a company to set up partnerships and integrate and manage many APIs.

In theory, Matter should make the process of building an energy management app much easier. “[A company] can do it once and it will apply everywhere,” says Steve Cunningham, CEO of Green Energy Options and head of the CSA’s energy management working group. Instead of making all these individual partnerships, a company should just need to add Matter to their product to provide the benefits of energy management to a user. “If it has Wi-Fi in it today, by and large, it will have enough capacity to be upgraded to communicate to Matter over Wi-Fi,” says Cunningham. 

Whether all this will actually happen, though, remains to be seen. Initially, we were promised backward compatibility for many Matter products, few of which materialized. Additionally, the Home Connectivity Alliance, an industry coalition of large appliance manufacturers, is simultaneously developing a similar cross-platform solution.

However, LaPré believes that, in this case, we’ll see fairly rapid adoption from manufacturers in this space. “This is expensive infrastructure. While you might buy a new smart plug to support Matter, homeowners aren’t going to change out their $9,000 solar panels on their roof,” says LaPré. “Demand for an open standard like Matter that can connect existing infrastructure is coming from both sides, consumers and manufacturers.”

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Windows PCs targeted by new malware hitting a vulnerable driver

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2 hours ago

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November 7, 2024

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Windows PCs targeted by new malware hitting a vulnerable driver

  • Security researchers observed a new threat campaign dubbed SteelFox
  • It uses fake activators and cracks to deploy a vulnerable driver, an infostealer, and a cryptominer
  • The victims are found all over the world, from Brazil to China

Hackers are targeting Windows systems with malware that mines cryptocurrencies and steals sensitive information from the devices, experts have warned.

A new report from Kaspersky claims to have spotted tens of thousands of infected endpoints already, as the cybercriminals have started advertising fake cracks and activators for different commercial software, such as Foxit PDF Editor, JetBrains, or AutoCAD.

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Roblox announces new safety features for under-13s

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2 hours ago

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November 7, 2024

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Roblox announces new safety features for under-13s

Roblox is introducing new safety features for children under the age of 13, following criticism of how it protects younger users.

The free online gaming platform, which has around 70 million daily users worldwide, allows players to create their own games and play those made by others.

It is particularly popular with children – but some have complained they have been exposed to upsetting and harmful content on the site.

Starting 3 December, game creators will be asked to say whether their games are suitable for under-13s – with any that fail to do so being blocked for players 12 and younger.

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And from 18 November, under-13s will also be barred from accessing “social hangouts”, which are online spaces where players can talk to each other by text and voice.

It specifies hangout experiences as games where “the primary theme or purpose” is to allow people to communicate with each other as themselves, rather than role-playing as a character.

Younger users will also be unable to use “free-form 2D user creation” from the same date, which it said were games “that allow users to draw or write in 2D and replicate those creations to other users without the completed creation going through Roblox moderation”.

It is thought that this is aimed at preventing users writing or drawing offensive images or messages which are difficult to moderate.

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“We recognize the deadline is soon, but we greatly appreciate your cooperation in helping us ensure Roblox is a safe and civil place for users of all ages to come together,” it said in a post on the Roblox developer website.

According to the media regulator Ofcom, Roblox is the most popular game in the UK for children aged 8 to 12.

But it has faced criticism over its protections for younger users, with one young person telling the BBC in May he had been approached on Roblox and asked for sexual images.

At the time, Ofcom, the regulator for online safety, told tech firms to hide “toxic” content from children and published draft codes of practice.

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Since then there have been further issues, with Turkey entirely blocking access to Roblox in August.

“As a company that’s transparent with our community of developers, we needed to share key information about the upcoming changes prior to launch,” Roblox told the BBC in a statement.

“We’re constantly strengthening our safety systems and policies — we shipped over 30 improvements this year and we have more to come,” it added.

But despite announcing the changes would begin swiftly, it said it would not begin enforcing the requirements until 2025.

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