SSDs are getting costlier, and we’re simply getting began. The costs of NAND chips which can be utilized in SSDs are anticipated to leap by 50% over the approaching months, in keeping with TrendForce, which can translate into increased costs for storage. Even initially of 2024, we’re already seeing a few of these worth will increase in impact.
I took a have a look at the pricing historical past of a smattering of standard SSDs on Amazon, and I universally discovered that costs are up. The
WD Black SN850X
is $85 for a 1TB capability, up from its lowest level of $60, which it hit a number of occasions final 12 months.
Samsung’s 980 Professional
in a 500GB capability is $80, whereas it hovered round $60 for the latter half of final 12 months and bottomed out at solely $50.
As we reported on final 12 months, Samsung put into place a 20% improve on the worth of NAND flash chips per quarter, beginning in 2024. TrendForce says that NAND suppliers are limiting manufacturing so as to stabilize costs, with the eventual aim of elevating costs as soon as the remaining stock has stabilized. We are able to see a few of that in impact now, as SSDs just like the Samsung 990 Professional are out of inventory on Amazon, and different high-capacity SSDs are exhibiting lengthy lead occasions.
Earlier than shaking your first at greed, although, it’s necessary to ascertain some context. The costs of SSDs dropped frequently over final 12 months, principally pushed by constant worth drops on NAND flash. The turnaround in pricing is to make sure NAND suppliers like Samsung, SK Group, and Western Digital can flip a revenue. Even with the primary wave of worth will increase, SSD costs are nonetheless far decrease than they have been a few years in the past.
Nonetheless, in the event you’re planning on choosing up a brand new SSD to your PC, it’s a good suggestion to get one quickly. We’re already seeing an upward pattern in costs, and a number of sources over the previous few months point out main NAND flash producers are going to proceed to push costs up. They could by no means climb to the heights we noticed on the finish of 2022, nevertheless it’s nonetheless finest to choose up an SSD before later.
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