SSD prices: storage deficit provides significantly higher costs

SSDs are still cheap, which could change at the end of 2017.


In modern PCs and notebooks, more and more SSDs (solid-state drives) with available end-user sizes of up to 4 terabytes are now working. The demand for built-in, fast flash chips will continue to grow. In order for such sizes to be achieved, more and more complex chips are required. The result will be a report of "DRAMexchange" that the prices for the fast drives will increase significantly, since the production will lag behind in the near future. Specifically, experts are expecting price increases of 20 to 25 percent - by the end of 2017.


Current SSDs and flash memory in smartphones and tablets rely on chips in NAND manufacturing. This technology allows smaller and smaller devices with ever-increasing space availability. Samsung, for example, has developed the SSD 850 Pro as one of the first manufacturers to develop so-called V-NAND memories (generally MLC - multi-level cell), which can store data "three-dimensionally" on one chip. Production therefore requires more resources, while reject rates are also higher in production than in previous "old" technologies.


On the plus side are large capacities with minimal to non-existent speed losses, the PC users in the private as well as in companies ask. The mobile market with smartphones and tablets as a Millionenseller is also available to get current chips from Samsung, Micron and Co.


Lesetipp: SSD, HDD or SSHD - advantages and disadvantages


In this quarter alone, demand for up-to-date NAND storage is expected to have risen by up to 10 percent. The demand for obsolescent chips, which write data on one level and multiple cells (eg TLC - Triple-Level-Cell) in the same cell. Every third notebook is currently delivered with an SSD either with TLC or MLC-SSD, until 2017/2018 it should be every second. For PCs, the share is about 13% smaller but not insignificant.


It may therefore be worthwhile to make an SSD upgrade in time before such a fast drive will tear larger holes into the purse. We would like to take a look at our article with cheap SSDs up to 1 TB.