Apple MacBook Pro (2021) Users Complain of SD Card Reader Issues

Last Updated on December 7, 2021 by Nachiket Mhatre

No Apple product launch is complete without some design or engineering oversight. Sure enough, the latest 2021 MacBook Pro models aren’t playing well with SD cards. Multiple complaints from angry users are pouring onto Reddit and other forums citing problems with the onboard SD card reader ranging from horribly slow transfer speeds to downright inaccessibility of files.

The problem apparently extends to both 14 and 16-inch variants of the 2021 MacBook Pro.

Apple-centric blogs such as MacRumors reported complaints from its own readers citing SD card reader troubles and unreliability of file transfers. Some users even complained of errors that lead to file corruption. This is a major concern since the MacBook Pro is targeted at creative and video editing professionals, whose workflow involves frequent transfer of projects through SD cards.

Interestingly, multiple Apple MacBook Pro users have reported that third-party external readers work just fine. That means, the problem probably might not lie with macOS’ handling of the SD card protocol. That leaves two most likely culprits—either the physical hardware (SD card reader) has underlying issues, or the driver for the said hardware needs revision to work properly.

Based on user reports, the SD card reader problem extends to all brands and sizes of media. MacBook Pro users have experienced read and write errors with brands such as SanDisk, Sony, and Samsung across sizes ranging from 16GB to 256GB. Apparently, even changing file formats from the default exFAT to FAT32 doesn’t help either.

As of this writing, MacBook Pro users have ironically only found reliable SD card performance from non-Apple branded SD card readers connected externally through the USB-C port.

Meanwhile, MacRumors has reported that Apple is aware of the snafu. The iPhone maker plans to roll out a fix in a future software update. The company, however, has not made any official acknowledgement of this issue as of this writing.

It is impossible to accurately pinpoint the root cause of the problem at this juncture. But at least Apple can’t accuse customers of holding their MacBooks wrong this time around.