Despite a Trend of Falling Pricing in Most of 2012, SSD Prices Went Up in Q4

Compared to only a few years ago, SSD pricing today is what many would consider to be affordable. This is thanks to the steady decline that’s been seen for a number of years, leading many to hold off on their purchase in hopes a particular model could be even less expensive next month. However, things look to be changing. It seems that SSDs are not keeping to their same price-point, but actually reversing their pricing trend and going upward.

Our friends at The Tech Report have noted that while SSD pricing continued to go downhill for most of 2012, things changed in the final quarter. They attribute this to the fact that OCZ toned down its aggressive promotions in order to gain extra marketshare, leading its competitors to relax on their price-points a little bit. As such, prices have likely gone back up to levels that would have existed had OCZ’s promotions not been so attractive.

So, how about some fun numbers to juggle around? At the start of 2012, SSD pricing sat at about $1.64 per GB. On December 31, that plummeted to $1.02. Beefier models, such as those in the ~256GB range, enjoyed a rock-bottom price of $0.83 per GB on average. Reaching that $1/GB mark used to be something we were all hoping for – now that’s shifted to something even lower. If the market changes, that is.

Interestingly, it’s noted in the article that despite 19 and 20-nm NAND being made available in select SSDs (Samsung’s 840 Pro, for example), that hasn’t resulted in lower pricing for the consumer as such die shrinks would normally suggest.

It’s going to be interesting to see how things fare throughout Q1. While we’re still seeing <$1/GB pricing on most models, it'd be nice to see that go even lower, as trends earlier in 2012 led us to believe would happen.