A new report says a shortage of SSD chips used in tablets and ultrabooks will result in no more price drops during 2015, however 2.5-inch SSD replacements for desktop and notebook will get cheaper.
2.5-inch SSD prices have been noticeably falling over the past twelve months, with an example being a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD once costing AUD $250+ but now selling online at one store for $145.
The 500GB model used to cost around $400+ but now sells for $279, and the 1TB Samsung SSD which used to sell for $799 now goes for just $485, seemingly falling each week as it was $555 just a couple of weeks ago, and closer to $600 a few weeks earlier.
While 2.5-inch SSDs are booming as hard drive replacements that deliver noticeably faster performance at ever lower prices, prices for SSD chips often attached directly to the motherboards of tablets, hybrids and super thin ultrabooks are expected to flatten in 2015 due to a reported shortage of necessary SSD chips, although they are expected to start dropping again in 2016.
While there will be capacity increases at the same price range over 2015, the shortage won’t help computer manufacturers hoping for dramatically cheaper prices and much larger capacities at the same time.
PC World’s report on the IHS storage brief
quotes IHS storage analyst and storage brief author Fang Zhang stating the price of SSD chips for tablets and ultrabooks “will average US $111 for 197GB this year and 264GB in 2015, and then drop to US $109 for 340GB in 2016”.
The price is then expected to drop to US $93 for 405GB in 2017 and an even lower US $79 for 465GB of storage in 2018.
The news is much better for the aforementioned 2.5-inch SSDs that are used to replace existing 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch hard drives, with Ms Zhang’s storage brief reporting expectations of US $104 for a 243GB drive by the end of 2015, US $73 for 310GB in 2017 and $60 for 345GB in 2018.
Howver, given that I can see a Kingston V300 240GB SSD on sale online for just AUD $129 today, mid-way through 2014, Ms Zhang might find her “243GB” drive available for US $104 by the end of this year and not the next.
Click to enlarge
|
