Samsung Posts Lowered MSRPs For 970 PRO And 970 EVO SSDs
by Billy Tallis on May 6, 2018 11:00 PM EST
Sales of the Samsung 970 PRO and 970 EVO M.2 NVMe SSDs are due to begin tomorrow (May 7), and it appears that Samsung may be making a last-minute adjustment to their suggested retail prices. An attentive reader has pointed out that two different sections of Samsung's web site are showing product listings for the 970 series. The Samsung Business site is showing the prices as originally announced last month, but the consumer-oriented Samsung site is showing substantially lower prices indicating a 25% cut to the 970 PRO prices and 5-13% cuts to the 970 EVO prices. Neither set of product listings currently gives the option to buy directly from Samsung, and only the business section listings have links to other online retailers. Those linked product listings on CDW, SHI and Zones have prices above either set of MSRPs and do not show immediate availability.
| Samsung 970 Product Listings | ||
| Drive | Samsung US | Samsung Business US |
| 970 PRO 512GB | MZ-V7P512BW $249.99 (49¢/GB) |
MZ-V7P512E $329.99 (64¢/GB) |
| 970 PRO 1TB | MZ-V7P1T0BW $499.99 (49¢/GB) |
MZ-V7P1T0E $629.99 (62¢/GB) |
| 970 EVO 250GB | MZ-V7E250BW $109.99 (44¢/GB) |
MZ-V7E250E $119.99 (48¢/GB) |
| 970 EVO 500GB | MZ-V7E500BW $199.99 (40¢/GB) |
MZ-V7E500E $229.99 (46¢/GB) |
| 970 EVO 1TB | MZ-V7E1T0BW $399.99 (40¢/GB) |
MZ-V7E1T0E $449.99 (45¢/GB) |
| 970 EVO 2TB | MZ-V7E2T0BW $799.99 (40¢/GB) |
MZ-V7E2T0E $849.99 (42¢/GB) |
The product ID numbers for the business and consumer listings differ slightly, with the business section listings showing IDs ending in "E" while the consumer section shows IDs ending in "BW". These may reflect a difference in packaging, but the drive itself is the same. We have asked Samsung for clarification about the pricing and product IDs, but have not yet received a response. The answer to the question of pricing should become apparent tomorrow when major online retailers start selling the 970 PRO and 970 EVO.
| NVMe SSD Price Comparison | ||||
| 240-256GB | 400-512GB | 960-1024GB | 2TB | |
| Samsung 970 PRO (shipping May 7) |
$249.99 (49¢/GB) | $499.99 (49¢/GB) | ||
| Samsung 970 EVO (shipping May 7) |
$109.99 (44¢/GB) | $199.99 (40¢/GB) | $399.99 (40¢/GB) | $799.99 (40¢/GB) |
| Samsung 960 PRO | $319.25 (62¢/GB) | $604.65 (59¢/GB) | $1249.95 (61¢/GB) | |
| Samsung 960 EVO | $117.99 (47¢/GB) | $219.55 (44¢/GB) | $432.35 (43¢/GB) | |
| WD Black 3D NAND | $119.99 (48¢/GB) | $234.24 (47¢/GB) | $449.99 (45¢/GB) | |
| Intel SSD 760p | $116.25 (45¢/GB) | $215.45 (42¢/GB) | $399.99 (39¢/GB) | $1730.01 (84¢/GB) |
| Plextor M9Pe | $119.99 (47¢/GB) | $209.19 (41¢/GB) | ||
| HP EX920 | $109.99 (43¢/GB) | $199.99 (39¢/GB) | $349.99 (34¢/GB) | |
| MyDigitalSSD SBX | $84.99 (33¢/GB) | $157.99 (31¢/GB) | $309.99 (30¢/GB) | |
| Crucial MX500 (SATA) | $69.99 (28¢/GB) | $114.99 (23¢/GB) | $236.06 (24¢/GB) | $472.16 (24¢/GB) |
If the lower prices for the Samsung 970 PRO and 970 EVO prevail, then Samsung will be putting a lot of pressure on other high-end NVMe SSDs. Some of the competitors like the new generation WD Black and the Plextor M9Pe are having trouble staying in stock, and the Intel 760p is still above the prices it launched at early this year. All of them would be undercut by the 970 EVO at the new MSRPs, leaving the HP EX920 as the fastest drive that is still cheaper than Samsung.
With an even bigger price cut, the Samsung 970 PRO will only be 25% more expensive than the 970 EVO, rather than carrying a 40% premium. It's still a step up that is unnecessary for most users, but it's nice to see the fastest flash-based SSD under 50¢/GB.
Update: B&H has all of the 970s in stock except the 512GB 970 PRO. Prices are listed at the higher MSRPs, but with "Instant Savings" that bring the final prices down to the lower MSRP values. Amazon has the 1TB 970 EVO in stock at the original higher MSRP.
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MajGenRelativity - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
Glad to see more pricing pressure in the SSD market. Samsung pushing prices down is always a good thingLolimaster - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
Unless you work editing 4k(+) videos, there's no need for anything over the Crucial MX500.MajGenRelativity - Tuesday, May 8, 2018 - link
I work with virtualization and multiple different server software, which could benefit from faster storage. I definitely can't max out a 970 Pro, but my 960 Evo has served me well so farLarryTempleton - Tuesday, May 8, 2018 - link
Right... LOL “Samsung pushing prices down.” The business model Samsung is quite the opposite— in fact this article is more proof of Samsung price gouging (to the furthest extent they can “legally” get away with it) until the furthest possible point in time. The industry can’t even be called competitive or semi competitive. There are just a couple real players that control prices, so both innovation and value are significantly held back. (Should solid state HD’s still be so expensive that in 2018 they still haven’t pushed out platter drives altogether?)Achaios - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
I was looking at my Samsung 840 Evo 500 GB SMART Data, and it says that in 5 years, I have written 9762 GB to the drive and consequently my drive has got a "Drive Remaining Life" reading of "98%" according to HWINFO (aka Wear Levelling Count).At this rate, I won't be needing a new SSD in this life.
Flunk - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
They can fail for other reasons as well. I had a Samsung 840 Pro fail at 4 years for no obvious reason at all. Surprisingly, still under warranty so they sent me a 850 Pro as a replacement.Samus - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
Ditto. After my 840 EVO failed (not related to the performance bug) they replaced with an 850 EVO. I’ve heard similar stories. Of course the common theme is Samsung support is a pain in the ass to deal with, my turnaround was 2 weeks from when my drive failed to getting a working replacement in my hands.Wolfclaw - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
Wonder if the recent DRAM price fixing investigation has them rattled and they are now looking at other items that may cause them issues.Flunk - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
I doubt it, I think they just want to crush the competition.close - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
They're not really crushing any competition. None of the NAND manufacturers is in the position to "crush" any of the others without taking a serious hit to the bottom line. Not yet anyway.And being the most expensive player on the market doesn't really help them crush anyone.