More than Half of Notebooks to Feature SSDs

Article By : Dylan McGrath, EE Times

Falling prices means SSD-equipped notebooks will be in majority this year

SAN FRANCISCO — Solid-state drives (SSDs) will be featured in more than half of notebook PCs produced by OEMs for the first time this year as the result of falling prices, according to market research firm DRAMeXchange.

SSD suppliers have cut prices to entice PC OEMs to adopt their latest 64/72-layer 3D SSDs, according to DRAMeXchange, which tracks the price of memory chips.  

Contract prices for mainstream SSDs for PC OEMs are expected to decline by 3 to 5 percent in the first quarter in the SATA-SSD sector and 4 to 6 percent in the PCIe-SSD sector, according to DRAMeXchange, a unit of TrendForce. By contrast, SSD prices rose throughout 2017, the firm said.

The percentage of notebooks with SSDs was expected to eclipse 50 percent for the first time last year. But SSD pricing remained firm amid strong demand, resulting in the penetration rate topping out at 45 percent, according to DRAMeXchange.

DRAMeXchange expects pricing for SSDs to remain weak in the second quarter, as suppliers continue to expand their 64/72-layer 3D SSD capacity while demand remains relatively weak, resulting in oversupply.  

— Dylan McGrath is the editor-in-chief of EE Times.

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