SSD prices have also been falling as NAND supply continues to be in surplus for months, a trend that TrendForce analysts note in a new report will become more severe in 4Q2022. NAND flash prices are expected to drop by 15-20% in the next quarter, leading to a simultaneous slide in SSD end-user prices.
In other words, SSD prices could bottom out around the end of 2022, but market trends for 2023 are unknown for now.
Demand for PCs, graphics cards and other devices has also been pulling back recently due to economic uncertainty, forcing some suppliers to aggressively raise prices to clear high inventories. Despite the weak market, companies such as SK Hynix and Armor Man are still on track to launch new products, thereby increasing price competition.
In an environment where demand is down and shipments are up again, the pressure on solid state storage prices has been passed on to 176 layers of NAND flash and PCIe 4.0 SSDs (especially in the 512GB slot), in addition to the enterprise SSD market facing a similar trend.
In fact, in time for this fall’s new generation of CPU and GPU products, graphics card and SSD prices have been dropping for some time (and judging by some actual sales, a number of SSD prices have been slashed compared to last year). The end of 2022 may be a good time for people with installation or upgrade needs to get started.
