Upgrading your storage has never been easier. Some of the best SSDs have been steadily falling in price, meaning buying an SSD with 1TB or more capacity is just as cheap as buying an HDD. However, this buyer’s market is about to end, as Samsung is taking measures to raise prices and control stock levels so that this glut of affordable SSDs ends.
Market research company Trendforce has shared bad news in a recent report. Samsung doesn’t plan to directly increase the price of its own SSDs, such as the QVO and EVO lines. Instead, it plans to raise the prices of its NAND flash chips, and it has been doing so for some time. However, previous price hikes are nothing compared to the sudden change being made this time, as Samsung plans to increase prices by 20% per quarter for the first half of 2024.
The last price adjustment was quite small. Samsung raised the price of its NAND wafers by a few percent, and then by 10% to 20% last quarter. Now, in the first half of 2024, we will see NAND chips becoming more expensive.
While Samsung makes its own NAND for its SSDs, it also supplies NAND to third-party vendors. It is not alone in that market, with other manufacturers such as Micron and SK Hynix competing against it. However, if prices for Samsung NAND wafers skyrocket – and they could soar by as much as 44% – the market as a whole is sure to be affected.
This is serious news for PC builders and upgraders, but keep in mind that these increases won’t make SSDs more expensive by 40%. The final price to the consumer is going to be less impressive, but some of the additional cost is bound to be passed on to end users. Samsung is also reportedly reducing RAM and NAND production in 2024, as the market becomes saturated with SSDs of all sizes. With these adjustments, we may see fewer SSDs for sale, and those that are available will slowly climb in pricing.
Don’t worry – we won’t let you run out of storage. If you want to buy an SSD next year, they’ll still be there. However, chances are you’ll pay more than that if you purchased additional storage within the next few months. Given that fast M.2 SSDs fit most modern motherboards, this might be a good time to stock up while they’re cheap.