The SSD market has been great for consumers in 2023. Just like 2022 before it, it's seen plenty of discounts and price drops that have made buying new gen 4 SSDs very doable for console and PC gamers. Unfortunately, two years of prolonged discounts have made a mockery of MSRPs, and that can make shopping around for deals quite a confusing task.
Some of the best SSDs for gaming now sit well below their suggested retail prices these days, and depending on the retailer you look at, those "full price" listings will change. If you've been watching the prices like we have, you might have been left wondering what on earth has been going on. After all, SSDs have cemented themselves as the dominant force in storage, and with the arrival of Gen 5 drives this year, there are even more things you should know before shopping for Black Friday deals in November.
But, with even some of the most in-demand PS5 SSDs reaching regular retailing prices that are similar to, if not the same as, their deal prices during last year's holiday sales events, the question arises: is it even worth waiting for Black Friday SSD deals?
Cheap SSDs: What you need to know
Why did SSDs get so cheap?
To answer the all-important question of whether you should buy an SSD on the cheap now, or wait for Black Friday, I think it's important to understand why SSDs have been on offer for so long.
SSD manufacturing experienced the same chip shortage plague that was felt by a lot of the computing world throughout the pandemic years. At the same time, demand started getting inordinately high thanks to SSDs being widely adopted by the PS5 and Xbox Series X, as well as more and more of the best gaming PCs.
With demand being so high, and manufacturing getting more difficult thanks to safety concerns due to the pandemic, the brands making the best SSDs had to sink extra costs in to keep their workforces safe. With high production costs, these additional safety barriers, and an increasing demand from consumers, MSRPs and retail prices remained high.
As many of these companies tried to recover from the pandemic in late 2021 though, things began to change. Not only did demand for SSDs start to drop, but prices have had to stay high so that manufacturers can try to recoup losses from pandemic safety measures. As demand lessened, prices remained the same.
This (combined with a slew of other factors, we're sure) ultimately resulted in a period of market stagnation, where casual buyers weren't willing to buy SSDs at high costs, but manufacturers weren't able to move costs down.
In 2022, things shifted. Driven by a need to sell units, manufacturers like Seagate and Western Digital seriously reduced their SSD prices in an attempt to capture more and more sales. In fact, things were so bad that higher-ups at Seagate and WD admitted that times were hard and that they thought it was unlikely they'd meet their 2022 profit margins by the end of the year.
2023: How have things changed?
For the entirety of this year, even as some retail prices have shifted back up, and the cheapest of cheap prices have been retained for events like Black Friday, it's been easy to find great drives on offer consistently, even if they aren't the most well-known ones.
Thankfully, new products have bailed manufacturers out a bit, as the SN850P from WD Black, the 4TB 990 Pro from Samsung, and new heatsink models from Crucial have all meant they could reset launch prices to some extent.
On the whole, though, drives from 2022 and even 2021 are still incredibly viable, and they're still readily available. These are often the ones you can find on sale really frequently, and we're expecting stupidly low prices during Black Friday.
Not only that, but Gen 5 SSDs started hitting the shelves about halfway through the year, and that's provided a new tier of product for enthusiasts that warrant a steeper price line.
Are there likely to be SSD deals on Black Friday?
Big sales events like Prime Day and Black Friday are a guarantee when it comes to digital storage offers. When it comes to SSDs, either external or internal, you're bound to see a deal that suits you this November.
With that in mind, we're expecting historically low prices for Black Friday. We've already seen some brand new Gen 5 SSDs go on offer for Prime Day, which fills us with a lot of hope.
Expect there to be SSD deals this Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Between Black Friday PS5 SSD deals, Black Friday external hard drive deals, and Black Friday SSD deals, there's bound to be an offer that suits your needs.
Having said that, depending on what you're shopping for, we need to help determine if you should wait for these sales, or jump on a deal you see before the 24th of November.
When to buy an SSD before Black Friday
If it's an emergency and you need it now
If your current SSD or HDD has tragically kicked the bucket or maybe reached capacity, you may desperately need a new drive before we get to November. In this case, we'd understand if you'd want to sort something out as soon as possible, and not wait for Black Friday SSD deals.
In this instance, don't worry about waiting if you can get a drive you like below its MSRP.
You see a 2TB NVMe drive for under $100/£100
The best value for money used to be in 1TB drives, but now that internal 2TB SSDs are coming down in price more as updated 4TB ones become more frequently seen, you might see a great deal on a larger option.
If you see a 2TB drive come down to around the $100/£100 mark, don't be afraid to jump on it before Black Friday.
If you see a great deal on a big brand
If you see one of our favorite SSDs on offer in the 1TB arena for under $70/£70, don't be afraid to jump on it. Just keep in mind your money could go further when it gets to Thanksgiving week.
When to wait for Black Friday SSD deals
If it's not an emergency
If it isn't vital that you come up with an immediate storage solution before Black Friday, then we'd absolutely recommend that you wait until the 25th. It will swing by faster than you realise, and if you stay patient, we're sure you'll see some of the best prices of the year.
If you want your budget to stretch as far as possible
With that in mind, your budget could stretch even further than it would currently if you can wait. If you can afford a 1TB model just now, you may be able to afford a 2, or even 3TB model in just a few weeks. These larger capacities won't net you faster sequential read and write speeds, but will give you more futureproofing as games continue to get larger and you start to use up more and more space.
If you're shopping for a Gen 5 SSD
We were a little shocked to see a Gen 5 drive from Crucial go on offer for the second Prime Day event. It stands to reason now that if you want one of these exceptionally quick drives, you should wait until Black Friday. These are still very new, and by proxy, fairly hard to come by and pretty expensive. A Black Friday deal will be a great way to get one of these upgrades for cheaper.
Just keep in mind that a Gen 5 drive needs a beefy heatsink and won't work inside the PS5.
Today's best deals
If you'd like an idea of SSD prices just now so you can gauge how much you might need to put aside for Black Friday, we've used our price comparison software to pull together today's best offers. Check it out below.
If you know you want an SSD, but you're not sure what model to pull the trigger on, we have guides to help you out. If PS5 storage is what you need, check out our favourite PS5 SSDs. If you're upgrading your gaming PC, have a look at the best SSD for gaming.
If you'd like a deeper dive into what to expect for Black Friday offers, we have pages that can give you early deals and information. For a general look at gaming hardware, check out Black Friday gaming deals, and to add a little more comfort to your life, have a look at Black Friday gaming chair deals.
