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Samsung’s slower 990 SSD now costs more than 990 Pro
Samsung’s new 990 SSD is slower than the 2022 990 Pro, yet starts at $270 for 1TB as storage component costs keep rising.
Image: Engadget
Samsung has introduced a new 990 SSD that is both slower and more expensive than the original 990 Pro it launched in 2022.
When Samsung debuted the 990 Pro series, the drives sold for $179 for 1TB and $309 for 2TB. The new non-Pro 990 SSD is priced at $270 for 1TB and $530 for 2TB, which the source links to rising component costs in 2026.
The performance gap goes in the wrong direction for buyers. Samsung says the 2026 990 SSD delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 7,250 MB/s and 6,450 MB/s, with random read and write speeds of up to 850K and 1,200K input/output operations per second.
By comparison, the 2022 990 Pro reached sequential read and write speeds of up to 7,450 MB/s and 6,900 MB/s, plus random read and write speeds of up to 1,400K and 1,550K input/output operations per second. As presented in Samsung’s press announcement cited by the source, that means lower performance at roughly 50 percent higher pricing.
The 990 Pro line has also become markedly more expensive. Samsung now lists the 1TB 990 Pro at $320, while the 2TB version has climbed to $640 — more than double its original launch price.
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According to the source, demand from the AI industry for storage and RAM is helping drive these increases, with no immediate relief in sight.
Computing Editor
Tomas lives in the terminal. He covers chips, laptops, and operating systems with a focus on performance and efficiency. He reads kernel changelogs the way other people read fiction, and he's always on the hunt for the perfect mechanical keyboard switch. If it processes data, Tomas has an opinion on it.
via Engadget
