Solid state drives (SSDs) are set to become even cheaper over the course of 2023, and with storage capacities rapidly increasing, their high read/write speeds mean that the traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) - traditionally capable of storing more data, but marred by larger form factors and mechanical parts prone to failure - may be getting closer to extinction.
A new report from market research firm Trendforce (via Tom’s Hardware), has projected following enterprise-spec SSDS falling anywhere between 13 and 18 percent in price in Q2 2023, bargain hunters can expect the price to drop a further 5 to 10 percent in Q3.
Tom’s Hardware have noted that such price drops are set to resist increases in demand as the year closes, which is good news for any business looking to do some forward planning for their data storage, or those who wind up having to urgently replace hardware amid a disaster recovery mishap.
Why are SSD prices crashing?
As ever, such price drops aren’t at the behest of a benevolent manufacturer. Many SSD producers are actively trying to make prices rise again by sharply reducing the production of one key component - NAND flash chips.
NAND flash chips are where data is stored on devices using solid state technology, which is becoming increasingly ubiquitous as producers and consumers alike want to keep the cost and size of a device down while maximizing its storage capacity. Flash memory works because they’re non-volatile memory, meaning data can be stored, read and written without being powered.
These chips are currently in abundance, and so manufacturers are, so Trendforce believes, rowing back production to create artificial scarcity. We can believe it.
However, it also predicts that NAND flash is so readily available at the moment that it will be some time yet before those actions begin to have an effect on the market.
What does this mean for you?
As the owner, IT administrator, or simply a good little employee of an organisation, we at TechRadar Pro think investing, or pushing for investment in solid state drives as the primary means of storing data is a prudent move in general, but especially now, while the wind is blowing in the right direction.
True, hard disk drive prices are also seeing sharp drops, and SSD health can sometimes be unreliable, but it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to justify investing in HDDs over SSDs when the latter is catching up in available storage capacity, and is no longer legions more expensive than mechanical drive alternatives.
Where should you start?
Firstly, you’ll want to book up on solid state tech and learn what the benefits are in more detail with TechRadar’s handy primer on SSDs. From there, consider our curated lists of the best cheap SSDs to dip your toe in the water, or if space and utility is what you need, more portable options, which usually connect to devices via a typical USB connection.
As SSD tech continues to improve, we’re sure you’ll start to wonder why we trusted our data to shaky mechanical parts for so long, and why it took so long for the revolution to take hold.
