Are SSD Prices Going Up? Why, and When They May Drop

Are SSD prices going up?

Yes. SSD prices are still rising as of late September 2026, but far more slowly than in the first half of the year. In its Q4 2026 report (September 24, 2026), TrendForce forecasts overall NAND flash contract prices to rise 15% to 20% this quarter, with consumer and client SSDs seeing only minimal increases.

That is a big change from early 2026, when TrendForce forecast client SSD contract prices to rise at least 40% in a single quarter. The slowdown isn't because supply improved — TrendForce says consumer buyers hit their affordability limit. Enterprise SSDs, driven by AI data-center demand, are still climbing: TrendForce forecasts their contract prices up 23% to 28% in Q4 2026.

Contract prices are what PC makers and large buyers pay the memory makers. Retail prices follow them with a lag, which is why store prices can keep creeping up after contract increases slow.

How much have SSD prices risen?

The steepest increases came in the first half of 2026. These are TrendForce's quarter-over-quarter forecasts for NAND flash contract prices:

• Q4 2025: +5% to 10% — the start of the upturn.
• Q1 2026: raised three times, from +33–38% (January) to +55–60% (February) to +85–90% (March), with client SSDs at least +40%.
• Q2 2026: +70% to 75%.
• Q3 2026: +10% to 15% — a sharp slowdown driven by consumer affordability limits, not better supply.
• Q4 2026: +15% to 20% overall, enterprise SSDs +23% to 28%, consumer SSDs only minimal increases.

Retail prices followed. Tom's Hardware found that the Samsung 990 Evo Plus 2TB cost $113 in July 2025 and $363 in July 2026 — up 221% — while the WD Blue SN5000 4TB went from $214 to $449.99. Its SSD price tracker, updated September 1, 2026, listed the Samsung 990 Pro 1TB at a best price of $239 against a lowest-ever $59, and the WD Black SN850X 2TB at $328 against a lowest-ever $89.

Today's live SSD prices are in the box below.

Why are SSD prices going up?

AI data-center demand comes first. It is the cause TrendForce names first in every release. According to Counterpoint Research, enterprise SSDs took 48% of all NAND bits in Q2 2026, up from 26% a year earlier.

Memory makers shifted capacity away from NAND. They moved factory capacity toward DRAM and HBM — the high-bandwidth memory used by AI chips — and held back NAND output, according to TrendForce, IDC, and Micron's June 24, 2026 earnings call. Less NAND supply lifts prices for every product built on it.

Hard drive shortages pushed cloud buyers to SSDs. According to TrendForce, cloud providers that couldn't get enough hard drives bought high-capacity QLC SSDs instead, which set off the upturn in late 2025.

New factories are still years out. TrendForce says new NAND factory capacity doesn't arrive until 2027–2028, so supply can't catch up with demand before then.

Tariffs are not the main driver. SSDs have been exempt from the US "reciprocal" tariffs since April 2025, and credible industry sources don't cite tariffs as a cause of the 2026 increases.

When will SSD prices drop?

The sources disagree on timing. TrendForce expects a 4% to 5% NAND supply shortfall in 2026, turning into a surplus in the second half of 2027 — which would push prices down.

The memory makers are less optimistic. On its June 24, 2026 earnings call, Micron said tight conditions last "beyond calendar 2027," with supply improving gradually in 2028. SanDisk said on its August 2026 earnings call that NAND stays on allocation "beyond calendar year 2027."

So relief could start in the second half of 2027, or it could stretch into 2028. None of these sources expects a meaningful drop before then.

SSD prices move in cycles

Today's prices won't last forever. In 2023 the market went the other way: NAND prices bottomed at the end of Q3 2023, after Samsung cut its NAND output by 50% from September. TrendForce then raised its Q4 2023 forecast from 0–5% to +8–13%, and industry revenue rose 24.5% that quarter.

The difference this time is what has to change. In 2023, prices turned when makers cut supply. Now they turn only when new supply arrives — and TrendForce says the new factories won't be ready until 2027–2028.

Should you buy an SSD now or wait?

If you need storage now, buy what you need now. Waiting for a drop that may be a year or more away means working without the drive in the meantime, and consumer prices have slowed but not reversed.

If your needs are flexible and you can wait a year or longer, holding off is a reasonable bet — but the forecasts above disagree, so it is a bet either way. Whatever you decide, a few habits keep the cost down:

• Compare by price per TB, not sticker price — the live box above shows today's typical and lowest price per TB for 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB NVMe and SATA drives.
• For games and your operating system, a mid-range NVMe drive is enough; you don't need a flagship.
• For bulk storage like media and backups, hard drives cost far less per TB than SSDs — see the hard drive guides linked below.
• A SATA SSD can be a cheaper way to add fast storage to an older PC or as a second drive.