Analysts expect SSD prices to rise next year

TrendForce is predicting significant price hikes on MLC (Multi-Level Cell) SSDs starting early 2017 by as much as 6 to 10 percent compared to average prices from Q3 2016. Meanwhile, TLC (Triple-Level Cell) SSDs could go up by as much as 6 to 9 percent during the same period. Price gaps between 128 GB and 256 GB SSDs and even 500 GB and 1 TB HDDs could become wider as well.

Analysts are not expecting prices to fall back down anytime soon due to high worldwide demand for SSDs and it becoming a bottleneck for various manufacturers. The global notebook market currently has a 30 percent adoption rate for SSDs according to TrendForce and this could climb to more than 50 percent by 2018. The total number of customers with client-grade SSDs on notebooks and desktops has been estimated to be 32.3 million as of Q3 2016 to represent an increase of 20 percent over Q2 2016.

Asus recently announced that it would offer SSD options on all of its notebooks including on its budget models commonly found on brick and mortar locations. The increase in worldwide smartphone shipments this year and the hastening transition to SSD-based PCs are likely all contributing to the demand and manufacturing bottleneck.

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