p.1 #1 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
There were rumors about this in mid-2025, but the prices of flash memory are starting to spike -- and hard.
For those who have not heard about this, the AI industry is gobbling up flash memory and card/storage maufacturers are worried about supply shortages. Potentail 50% increases are being widely reported.
FWIW, I bought 2 CFExpress 4.0 Cards last year when this news started to percolate. I'm glad I did. I anticiapted needing them when the next iteration of my camera came out in 2025 (Alas, it wasn't released, as rumored!). But I'm glad I got cards. The price has nearly doubled since I bought them.
Just worth bearing in mind if you are in the market for new cards.
p.1 #2 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
Memory cards, SSD drives and even regular hard drives...all going up in price. My son works at a MicroCenter and it's been disappointing to watch how quickly these prices have skyrocketed.
p.1 #3 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
Yeah, my primary high-capacity backup drive is entering its fifth year of service ... aka its digtal dotage. I'm going to replace it soon just to be on the safe side financially and operationally. I don't think the spinning drives have skyrocketed quite as much as... yet!
p.1 #5 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
Bought 2 Prograde Iridium 128gb UHS-IIs from Samy's Camera a few months ago for 162.00 before tax. I found they had the lowest prices on the cards I needed so I went with them. After reading about the AI boom and seeing Sandisk stock explode, I went to see how much the 128s were selling for. Currently, at Samy's Camera, they're selling for 242 before tax(and limiting 2 per customer)! Glad ive bought the cards prior to this year.
p.1 #6 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
Bought a 2 pack of Prograde Iridium 400GB cfexpress 4.0 type b cards back just before xmas at b&h. They were $323. Just looked now and they are $874. Crazy.
p.1 #7 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
Holy shit, just took a look at a few cards I bought last August from B&H. The Delkin Black 1tb Cfexpress I paid $399 for with a free $79 reader is now $939! Glad I bought 2. At least I won't lose anything if I decided to sell them. The PNY 256gb v90 SD's went from $149 to $219, and the PNY 1tb micro SD went from $69 to $109, so not as much of a jump but still it sucks as its just going to keep going up in the future. Glad I picked up two Novachips 1.6 tb Cfexpress A cards here before the spike too.
As a photo/video guy this sucks, with the raw data rates from the Nikon Zr video I'll be offloading more instead of buying more cards haha. But as an investor with some tech in my portfolio, it's not too bad.
p.1 #8 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
After reading this thread I decided to move forward on the purchase of my backup drive referenced above.
I had a LaCie One Big Drive in my B&H Wish List since December. I went to check out and it was Out of Stock, as were ALL of the LaCie Big Drives. I was able to find one on Adorama, but ithey only had one size in stock. All others were sold out.
I'm not sure how to read this -- but take it as a potential cautionary tale.
p.1 #9 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
rdalrt wrote:
Bought a 2 pack of Prograde Iridium 400GB cfexpress 4.0 type b cards back just before xmas at b&h. They were $323. Just looked now and they are $874. Crazy.
.
Remember what the white house said few years back...Everything will be cheaper...
$323 to $874 now...WOW!!!
p.1 #10 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
Bill Gass wrote:
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Remember what the white house a said few years back...Everything will be cheaper...
$323 to $874 now...WOW!!!
You can't really make a political statement about an unanticipated rise in demand causing a sudden rise in prices when the supply of the item in question is fixed. If the demand continues, the manufacturers will eventually increase production to meet the demand.
Building factories isn't a "short lead time" endeavor. When the manufacturers satisfy themselves that the increased demand isn't a short-term anomaly, they will more than likely start planning to increase production. However, that won't happen overnight and until it does the high prices will remain.
IF you want to make a political statement about prices, let's talk about the price of gasoline in California.
p.1 #11 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
kwbarnes wrote:
You can't really make a political statement about an unanticipated rise in demand causing a sudden rise in prices when the supply of the item in question is fixed. If the demand continues, the manufacturers will eventually increase production to meet the demand.
Building factories isn't a "short lead time" endeavor. When the manufacturers satisfy themselves that the increased demand isn't a short-term anomaly, they will more than likely start planning to increase production. However, that won't happen overnight and until it does the high prices will remain.
IF you want to make a political statement about prices, let's talk about the price of gasoline in California.
...Show more →
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Sorry for the political statement, I'll try to refrain next time.
I drove a little south into cali a few weeks ago, I filled up before I left and got back to Klamath before I filled up again, gas is not cheap by any means there, but I don't think it ever has been.
p.1 #13 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
Seems like almost all memory is at least double in price compared to a year ago. Since memory usually halves in price every year or so, it means in theory memory is actually quadruple in price than it should be at the moment
p.1 #15 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
The memory card market is a little like the stock market. Folks should be selling their used and unused cards on Ebay while the prices are high. They will go down in time. If you are a dedicated sports shooter you likely have old cards that are faster than most people need or want. This would be a good time to peddle those and buy new when the market readjusts.
p.1 #16 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
It's an interesting thought, indeed. How do people feel about buying used memory cards? I've always been a little wary of doing so. Does anyone out there do this regularly?
p.1 #17 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
PureMichigan wrote:
It's an interesting thought, indeed. How do people feel about buying used memory cards? I've always been a little wary of doing so. Does anyone out there do this regularly?
Hard pass for me on that one. I have had enough problems in the past with newer cards failing, this doesn't seem "worth" the risk!
p.1 #18 · Memory Card Prices Are Heading Up ... Fast and Furiously.
rdalrt wrote:
Bought a 2 pack of Prograde Iridium 400GB cfexpress 4.0 type b cards back just before xmas at b&h. They were $323. Just looked now and they are $874. Crazy.
And now, up to $1045. In just 5 months. Insane. And probably will go higher yet.
