- Samsung and Kingston are raising SSD prices, according to a report from China
- We’re told there will be a ‘price increase of at least 10% for solid-state drives’
- On top of that, AMD Ryzen CPUs have apparently increased in price in Japan
SSD prices are reportedly set for another hike, and we’re also hearing news of CPUs being hiked.
Wccftech spotted a report from Chinese tech site IT Home that claims Samsung and Kingston “have both notified their distribution channels of a price increase of at least 10% for solid-state drives”.
This comes from a source in the supply chain, we’re told, and Samsung has apparently notified three major domestic distributors of this price increase, which will take effect now.
The article continues below
As Wccftech makes clear, we’ve already seen price increases on high-end SSDs from Samsung and Western Digital earlier this month, applied as stealth increases that equate to doubling the cost of some models (the really big drives).
Wccftech has also marked big price increases for AMD Ryzen processors in the Japanese market, as claimed in a report by PC Watch.
The current-gen Zen 5 series has been hit with around 40%-50% price increases in some cases, with the biggest increases hitting the Ryzen 7 9700X (which is up 57%) and the Ryzen 9 9900X (up 37%).
A bunch of Ryzen 9000 models have seen around 20% increases in Japan, including the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which is a popular choice for PC gamers (and is up 22%).
These price increases also extend to older AMD processors, with some Ryzen 7000 models increasing significantly, led by the 7800X3D – the predecessor to the 9800X3D – subject to a 41% increase.
Analysis: a broader sign of things to come
These are really ugly CPU price increases, make no mistake, but it’s no surprise that processors are getting more expensive. This has been happening for a while now, although the increases have been relatively timid compared to RAM and storage.
However, this is the first time there have been really worrying increases with CPUs, and while it’s limited to the Japanese market, there’s a chance we’ll see a similar price trajectory elsewhere. Put it this way: I wouldn’t bet against this being a broader sign of bad things to come, though it could still turn out to be a more localized problem for Japanese retailers.
As for SSDs, assuming the supply chain source is correct – and of course we should spice up all these reports – it’s likely that SSDs will continue to get more expensive across the globe, not just in Asia. This is supported by a recent forecast from analyst firm TrendForce, which believes that NAND flash storage could see a price increase of around 75% quarter-on-quarter.
The outlook for SSD prices is suitably grim, there’s no getting around that, and the same goes for RAM, with TrendForce predicting around 60% increases there.
The best SSDs for all budgets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds. Be sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, video unboxings, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp also.
