The steep price we pay for digital storage

Early this year I wrote a piece that predicted the rapid increase in price for both SSD storage and RAM components due to supply chain woes. It’s been almost half a year since, and the effects of the memory crisis due to AI are in full effect. Since then, we have said goodbye to the budget phone category — phones below P10,000 — and are now saying hello to premium priced memory cards for our cameras and computers.

The global tech landscape has shifted its priorities. With massive data centers gobbling up silicon to train AI models, everyday consumers are facing the collateral damage of a starved supply chain. Upgrading a PC or expanding a console’s library is no longer a casual impulse buy; it has become a calculated financial decision.

One example of the price increase is the new Samsung 990 SSD that currently sells for P19,075 for the 1TB version and P37,678 for the 2TB version. In 2024, the equivalent device would sell between P5,000 – P7,000.

“It is what it is” is the narrative and as a consumer with limited spending power, this bubble won’t burst in the next 2-3 years. So buckle up.

If we are forced to pay these premium rates to keep our digital workflows alive, we have to look closely at the engineering under the hood to see if the real-world performance justifies the damage to our wallets.

As a consumer, the question you need to ask yourself is “how bad do I need my tech?” With technology no longer being disposable, brand reputation and warranty options matter more. Back then I would preface my reviews and recommendations vis-a-vis price. But in these unprecedented times, my general advice for technology would be to buy it if you need it, as technology in general has become more expensive. If you need a reliable 1TB NVME drive, the Samsung 990 storage is reliable, alongside other brands like Seagate.

If you are investing in high-end storage today, cheap generic drives are a gamble you cannot afford to take. So check the fine print. In the case of Samsung, it has a three-year limited warranty. Think of it as a long-term investment.