Electronic – MicroSD flash block size

The amount of silicon required to address less than 2ⁿ but more than 2^n-1 pages/rows/columns/cells/etc is the same as the amount of silicon to address exactly 2ⁿ. So the silicon usage efficiency is best at 2ⁿ.

Further, if you intend to put several of them together in a parallel access scheme, you will end up with gaps if each chip doesn't address 2ⁿ.

There's little advantage to supporting sizes between 2ⁿ and 2^n-1.

If you need to create a device with memory in the range 2ⁿ and 2^n-1 then you will generally find that buying the 2ⁿ part is more cost effective than buying the 2^n-1 part and a smaller part. Manufacturers have the same issue when producing silicon dies. Yes, they could make one, but it wouldn't increase their bottom line.

Welcome to the world of consumer electronics and manufacturing in volume! Nobody ever said it made sense!

The difference in price has nothing to do with anything technical. It is purely the economics of the market. The SPI Flash is being sold in relatively low quantities and somewhat high profit margins. The SD card is being sold in huge quantities and a very low profit margin.

While on the surface it might seem that the SD card would be more expensive since it has a smaller capacity and less "middlemen", that obviously isn't the case.

Another complication is that you could buy one make/model of SD card today, and then buy the same make/model in 3 month, and you would not be guaranteed to get the exact same thing. In those 3 months the internal design of the SD card could change. For most consumers this would not matter, but for some embedded users this could kill your application. Also, the SD card maker is not going to tell you of these changes. The same is not true of the SPI Flash, where you will most likely get the same thing for years.

You can get SD cards from manufacturers that will guarantee that they sell the same part for years, but it will be much more expensive.

These things are true of many products, not just SPI Flash and SD Cards. Memory (Flash and RAM) is the most obvious one. Another one is the iPad. In many cases it would be cheaper to buy iPads in bulk than to try and manufacture your own-- even in 100,000 unit quantities. You can't underestimate the purchasing power of a large company building millions of units at a time.

There are other factors that I didn't cover. Differences in part types, packages, purchasing channels, etc. But the problem you raise is more complicated than any one single factor can account for. My market/economic explanation is the biggest factor, but not the only one.