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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FunBunny2 - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
with everybody and his cat building out new fabs, one might wonder where all that output is expected to go??? the thing is, amortizing all that hard capital (and a bit of IP) demands 100% (or more, if you can squeeze it out) capacity use. there's so little direct labor involved, that whipping the serfs won't generate anywhere near enough margin; volume is the only way to reduce average cost. and that's all the bean counters care about.StrangerGuy - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
I just want China to swamp everyone by their domestic NAND production...I don't give a rat's ass if their SSDs has 50% less transfer rates than Samsung on paper if it can give 3X or more in terms of GB per dollar.Magichands8 - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
And the prices are STILL ridiculously high. Maybe they're desperately trying to find buyers for their M.2 drives? That would make sense. No reason to buy anything new I think for a few more years at this rate.ibnmadhi - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
40 cents per gigabyte for a top-tier consumer SSD is "ridiculously high"? Last time I bought an SSD I paid $1/GB for a SATA drive and it was a good deal.Death666Angel - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
You realize you are talking trash here, right? No one ever said "I will get more buyers by pricing my items too high". That's not how the world works.FunBunny2 - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
"You realize you are talking trash here, right? No one ever said "I will get more buyers by pricing my items too high". "ummm????? Apple?????
Magichands8 - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
No, instead they say "Hey, why don't we mark up the prices on these drives by 400% above where we could still be making a profit off of them? After all, there are plenty of kids around who are willing to pay that even though they can't tell the difference in performance between our drives and the ones selling at 1/3rd the price. Not to mention all the suckers out there who'll still compare these prices to those they paid for drives sold 5+ years ago and then pat themselves on the back for finding a super amazing deal! Just gotta make sure we don't tell any of them that in a year and half prices will have to come down fast if we want to move any of our drives due supply increases."XabanakFanatik - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
Speaking of the 970 Pro... Is there a review on the horizon for it?DigitalFreak - Tuesday, May 8, 2018 - link
The 2TB 970 EVO was in the middle of the pack in the storagereview.com tests, while the 500GB version was at the bottom. Definitely not worth the price premium Samsung charges.Billy Tallis - Tuesday, May 8, 2018 - link
Considering the kind of tests StorageReview ran and the kinds of drives they compared it against, that conclusion is completely irrelevant to most consumers.