SSD Price Update, Q2 2024: Storage Uptrend

Until last year, there was a lot of talk about the falling prices of solid state drives. But as we showed a few months ago, that trend has reversed.

As employees returned to offices after the pandemic, NAND manufacturers faced a glut of chips, resulting in reduced production. Nevertheless, demand continues to soar, especially with current generation games recommending or even requiring SSD storage.

Additionally, the AI ​​race is becoming a key factor, and training models requires vast amounts of data, which is starting to impact the price of disk drives.

In our last SSD price update (Q1 2024), we selected some of the most popular SSDs across three different capacities and analyzed how their average price on Amazon has changed over the past year . Now is the time to see how things have changed since then.

500GB SSD price

The SK Hynix P41 Platinum is probably the fastest 500GB drive on the market. Some competitors start at 1 TB, but the question remains, “Is it a good deal?” A year ago it cost $105. At one time you could buy it for as little as $41, but it often sold for $66. Currently on sale for $83.

These price changes are significant for users who purchase multiple 500 GB drives to upgrade multiple systems.

The Corsair MP600 Pro is the recommended drive for its sustained write speeds. The 500GB version has fewer NAND chips, making it half as fast as the larger version, but it’s still a good choice. The PlayStation 5-optimized LPX version started at $76 in early 2023, often sold for $53, and is now $70.

The Samsung 970 Evo Plus is ideal for systems that only support PCIe 3.0 speeds. It started at $70 last year, dropped to $25, and is now often sold for $30. Now it’s back down to $75.

Crucial MX500 is your first choice for SATA drives. It was a bargain at $45 at the beginning of 2023, and for most of that year you could find it for $35, but now it’s up to $55.

The Samsung 870 Evo is a great alternative to the Crucial MX500. A year ago it was $60, and since then it’s been available for $30, often $40, and now it’s back to $60, exceeding the price of a Crucial drive.

1TB SSD price

Moving on to 1TB drives, you can add several drives and models to your comparison. The price of the Samsung 990 Pro was $170 a year ago, dropped to $60, and then stabilized at around $80 for several months. Current price is $120.

Another high-end PCIe 4.0 drive, the WD Black SN850X, was around $110 as of January 2023, but could be available for $60 for a while. It has been stable at $85 for several months, but over the past month things have worsened and it is now at $100.

Meanwhile, the SK Hynix P41 Platinum was $150 a year ago, but remained at $90 for most of 2023, with a decline of $55. Currently selling for $100, the 500 GB version seems redundant.

The Corsair MP600 Pro LPX went on sale last year for an affordable $110 and spent most of the year around $70. Current price is $90.

WD Black SN770 is a good choice for users with PCIe 4.0 systems who want to save money. It started last year at $90, hovered around $50 for several months, and hit a low of $43. It has been fluctuating in an upward pattern and is currently stable at $85.

The Samsung T7 Shield is an external SSD that we’ve been recommending for over a year. It used to cost $100, but now he’s available for around $75 to $90. These days it usually costs $110.

The Crucial MX500 1TB started at $70 last year, but spent most of the year under $50. It currently costs $90, a price it hasn’t had since 2022. The same goes for the Samsung 870 Evo, which was too expensive a year ago compared to the MX500’s $90 price tag. This year, the company became a stronger competitor, with prices falling below his $60 and up to $49. It went up again in January to $90, and as of this writing it’s $100, but now Crucial drives are catching up.

2TB SSD price

Throughout the last year, we’ve noted that 2TB drives offer better value than lower capacity models, but price changes over the past few months have created some exceptions. Is this trend continuing? Let’s check it out.

The Samsung 990 Pro cost $300 a year ago, but for several months it was available for less than half that price, including a $120 Black Friday sale. In recent weeks, that price has remained steady around $190. If you need space, it’s a much better value than the 1 TB model.

The WD Black SN850X will start selling at a more affordable $190 in 2023, and for a while you could buy it for as little as $110. The current price is around $150, so the 1TB model looks worse than last time.

The SK Hynix P41 Platinum was $260 at the beginning of 2023, but spent most of the year at least $100 cheaper, including a few weeks toward the end of the year when it sold for $115. Prices were much higher at $140 to $160 last January, and now they’re even higher at $170. This is still better than the 1TB model, but not by much.

The Corsair MP600 Pro LPX is often available for less than $130 throughout 2023, as low as $110. Over the past month, prices have fluctuated between $150 and $165, which isn’t much, but it’s still a better deal for the larger capacity than the 1TB model.

The WD Black SN770 started at $160 last year, but has since fluctuated around $100. Earlier this year he was listed for $140, but frequently he was marked down to $107, making it a huge bargain over the 1TB model. Those deals are now no longer available.

The Samsung T7 Shield has a long history of price fluctuations. This year it started at about $170 and often sold for about $125, with the lowest price being $100. Now at $180, the 1 TB model is still a good value in the market, although technically it’s a lesser value.

The Crucial MX500 was also one of the most consistently priced drives last year, starting at $150 but never exceeding $120. It fluctuated between $90 and $110, dropping to $80 around Black Friday. The current price is $160, but it’s not significantly better than the 1TB version.

The Samsung 870 Evo has also become a good alternative compared to the MX500, starting at a high price of $175, with prices ranging from $100 to $120, and at one point dropping to $90 to $80. The price has risen to $180, making it an unattractive option for most people.

solid point

The decline in SSD prices has completely reversed from last year. A worrying trend in recent months is the disappearance of affordable options like the Crucial MX500 and his frequently sold WD SN770. This trend is not limited to any particular brand or capacity, so we don’t recommend settling for drives with slower, less durable QLC flash.

Questions remain. How bad will it get? We don’t expect prices to return to 2021 prices due to shortages and supply chain issues. At some point, people will start buying fewer units, but manufacturers are trying to avoid reaching that point. As production increases and new technology is introduced, prices may eventually fall. If you don’t urgently need a new SSD, there’s no benefit in buying one ahead of time just to avoid future price hikes.

The choice of storage device and its intended use also plays an important role. Traditional hard drives are still a viable alternative for desktop PC users who want to store large amounts of photos and videos, but you might want to get one now before the AI ​​craze hits them.

For example, the Seagate IronWolf often sells for just $80 for 4TB. Laptop users who don’t mind carrying around an additional small external drive might consider his WD Passport, which currently offers 2TB for about $80. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series owners will be able to play older games on these drives, albeit with longer loading times.

We will report further updates on SSD pricing in the next quarter.