Exclusive: An affordable 16TB PCIe SSD is on its way – the Chinese company behind the world’s first 2TB microSD card is planning a new world first and yes, we are looking for a test sample
A Chinese company that hit the spotlight earlier in 2024 with the world’s first 2TB microSD card – which we have already tested – is now planning to launch a 16TB PCIe NVMe SSD at Computex 2024, also a world first.
Precise details are scarce; AGI’s press release only mentions “a 16TB PCIe SSD that leads the HMB domain and delivers unparalleled performance” along with an image of an M.2 2280 SSD.
We don’t know if it’s a 4th or 5th generation PCIe model, or if it will have a graphene heatsink, but it will almost certainly use QLC parts.
New player in town?
Right now there are about a dozen 8TB PCIe NVMe SSDs; Shaped like a stick of gum, they are popular upgrades for mobile workstations, mini PCs, PS5 gaming consoles or SSD NAS where their data density counts.
They come at a significant premium: at the time of writing, the cheapest model is the Sabrent Rocket Q NVMe, which is a PCIe 3.0 part and retails for $800. A 16TB SSD, based on the same price per TB, would be a whopping $ 1,600, if not more, considering it is a premium model.
That’s slightly more expensive than, say, the enterprise-oriented Solidigm D5-P5316, which starts from $1,490, but the latter is a 2.5-inch SSD – so much larger and won’t fit in a laptop – and has a smaller capacity.
8TB SATA SSD could be a bargain
The acronym HMB refers to a technology called Host memory buffer which is a popular way for manufacturers to reduce costs by removing DRAM components while maintaining performance; This also frees up space for adding extra memory chips.
AGI also plans to unveil an 8TB SATA SSD that will compete with the Samsung 870QVO, the most popular drive of this size and which retails for around $600. The unnamed device is expected to “push the boundaries of consumer-level storage and set a new benchmark for capacity” and will most likely integrate its current AI238 family, which comes with a three-year warranty.
The company also produces portable SSDs, USB flash drives, and DDR5 and DDR4 memory modules. We contacted AGI for review samples and additional details about these products. We will update the article in due course.
The demand for high-capacity SSDs in the consumer market is far too low, which explains why most laptops sold under $1,000 contain up to 2TB. The advent of cloud storage combined with the ability to run software as a service (i.e. from the cloud) means that 2TB is sufficient for most.
In addition, large laptops (from 15.6 inches) often have a spare SSD slot, which means you can add an empty SSD for extra capacity, so you no longer have to go for the largest model at a premium price.