Since Flash Memory is non-volatile it requires power only during read, writes and erase operations, at all other times it requires no power at all. Flash memory cards are using only about 5 % of the power required by a hard disk drive, resulting to longer battery life for the host devices. Therefore flash memory cards are dominating in the portable electronic device industry, like mobile phones and digital cameras.

Low voltage leads to lower power consumption. Some memory card standards support dual-voltage and can be interchanged between the voltage requirements, meaning the memory card can operate at either voltage. The general trend in the memory card industry is lower voltage, which is a requirement from the host device manufactures for saving battery life. Different memory card standards are requiring different voltage. A table over all the memory card formats voltage requirements can be found below.

Memory Card Standard	Voltage	Dual-Voltage
CompactFlash	3.3V and 5V	Yes
SD Memory Card	3.3V	No
miniSD	3.3V	No
microSD	3.3V	No
TransFlash	3.3V	No
MMC	3.3V	No
MMCplus	3.3V	No
DV RS-MMC	3.3V	No
RS-MMC	1.8V and 3.3V	Yes
MMCmobile	1.8V and 3.3V	Yes
MMCmicro	1.8V and 3.3V	Yes
Memory Stick	3.3V	No
Memory Stick PRO	3.3V	No
Memory Stick Duo	3.3V	No
Memory Stick PRO Duo	3.3V	No
Memory Stick Micro	1.8V and 3.3V	Yes
SmartMedia Card	3.3V or 5V	No
xD-Picture Card	3.3V	No
PC Card	3.3V and 5V	Yes
USB Flash Drive	5V	No

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