Angelbird is going into IBC 2026 with its fourth-generation CFexpress Type A lineup complete: the AV PRO CFexpress A v4 in 400GB, 800GB, and 1600GB, plus a new budget-tier AV PRO SE CFexpress A v4 in a single 200GB capacity. All four cards target Sony’s CFexpress Type A cameras — the a1, a1 II, a9 III, a7R V, a7 IV, a7S III, FX5, FX3/FX3A, FX2, FX30, and FX6.
What’s shared across both lines
- Max read speed: 1870 MB/s
- Max sustained read speed: up to 1700 MB/s
- Bus: PCIe 4.0, new-generation controller, reworked firmware
- Tech: Stable Stream (consistent throughput as the card fills), advanced thermal management
- Durability: shock, dust, moisture, X-ray, and magnet resistant
- Warranty: 3-year limited, plus Angelbird’s in-house data recovery service (activation required within 30 days)
- Firmware updates: via the Angelbird Card Reader PKT CFexpress A
AV PRO SE CFexpress A v4 — 200GB
The SE model is the stills/hybrid-focused entry point, not built for RAW.
- Capacity: 200GB (single SKU)
- Certification: VPG200
- Sustained write speed: 500 MB/s
- Use case: stills and hybrid shooting, up to 8K video (non-RAW)
- Price: $199.00 / €226.81
AV PRO CFexpress A v4 — 400GB / 800GB / 1600GB
The PRO line is built for X-OCN RAW and high-bitrate video.
- Capacities: 400GB / 800GB / 1600GB
- Certification: VPG 400 / VPG 800
- Sustained write speed: 1000 MB/s (400GB) / 1500 MB/s (800GB) / 1600 MB/s (1600GB)
- Records: 8K RAW and Sony X-OCN
- Power draw: 0.53W idle, up to 2.7W max, <50mW sleep
- Shock resistance: 50G operating / Vibration: 15G operating
- Operating temperature: -12°C to 72°C (10°F to 162°F)
Every card in the PRO line carries a temperature sensor, TRIM2, ECC, EMS protection, and SMART2 power management.
Pricing
| Model | Line | Capacity | USD | EUR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AVP200CFXASE | AV PRO SE v4 | 200GB | $199.00 | €226.81 |
| AV400CXAM3 | AV PRO v4 | 400GB | $399.99 | €361.26 |
| AV800CXAM3 | AV PRO v4 | 800GB | $599.99 | €756.22 |
| AV1T6CXAM3 | AV PRO v4 | 1600GB | $899.99 | €1,008.32 |
The 800GB card works out to $0.75/GB — mid-pack for CFexpress Type A, cheaper per gigabyte than Sony’s own 960GB TOUGH ($0.91/GB) and Exascend’s 1TB Essential Pro Max ($0.90/GB), but more than Nextorage’s 1TB NX-A2SE ($0.50/GB). The SE 200GB, at roughly $1.00/GB, trades capacity and RAW support for a lower entry price.
Real-world performance (AV PRO 800GB)
Newsshooter benchmarked the 800GB card ahead of IBC and recorded a sustained write speed of 1556.2 MB/s and sustained read of 1542.2 MB/s in a 5GB stress test — the fastest sustained write result we have logged from any CFexpress Type A card to date. Minimum write speed held at 1080 MB/s under a 16GB AJA System Test load, and performance didn’t drop when the card was tested at 80% capacity.
Full benchmark breakdown and comparison data against Lexar, Wise, and Exascend cards is in our 800GB review.
Availability
The AV PRO CFexpress Type A v4 series (400/800/1600GB) is available now at B&H Photo. The AV PRO SE CFexpress A v4 200GB is available now direct from Angelbird.
Why media pricing isn’t coming down
We spoke with Angelbird Founder & CEO Roman Rabitsch about the broader pricing environment for memory. His take: current prices aren’t the anomaly — the cheap cards of the COVID era were.
Roman said pricing in the years before COVID was actually higher than what followed. Manufacturers overestimated demand during the pandemic, cut prices below their own manufacturing cost, and that artificially low pricing is what shaped recent expectations.
What’s driving cost up now is demand from AI infrastructure. Data centers need large volumes of DRAM and NAND flash, and that demand is compounding with robotics and an expanding base of everyday connected devices — Roman pointed out that even washing machines now ship with a CPU, memory, and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Manufacturing capacity can’t flex to meet that demand. Rabitsch compared it to an apple tree: if a tree produces 500 apples, that’s the ceiling for the season — planting another tree doesn’t help this year’s harvest. Fab output works the same way, on a multi-year lag.
There’s also an allocation problem: factory output is already contracted to buyers for the next two to three years, at prices already locked in. That leaves manufacturers no room to discount current inventory.
Rabitsch’s outlook: he does not expect prices to correct downward, and given how quickly AI and robotics demand accelerated in the past year, he says it’s plausible things get worse before they get better.
