We checked the WD_BLACK SN850X 2TB — the go-to PCIe 4.0 drive for PS5 storage expansion — for a current deal. I can't give you one. Not "the deal expired last month" like some of these posts go. This one's worse: the price has gone up, a lot, and it's not coming back down anytime soon.
Here's where it actually sits as of today: Amazon has the bare 2TB SN850X at roughly $389.99. That's against an original list price around $289.99 when this drive launched, and well above the $139–$170 range it routinely hit during Black Friday, Prime Day, and random Walmart/Newegg flash sales through 2024 and into 2025. At today's price, you're paying close to triple the old sale floor for the same drive.
This isn't a WD-specific hiccup — it's the whole SSD market, and it's the same underlying memory-chip crunch that's pushed Steam Deck prices up as much as 46% this year too. A global NAND flash shortage, driven largely by AI datacenter demand eating into flash production, has sent SSD prices climbing hard through 2026. Reporting on this has been consistent: Phison's CEO has said every NAND manufacturer is effectively sold out for 2026, and popular gaming SSDs like this one and Samsung's 990 Pro have both roughly tripled off their lowest historical sale prices. Industry outlooks don't expect meaningful relief until new fab capacity comes online in 2027–2028.
What to know before buying anyway: the drive itself hasn't changed — it's still a legitimately fast, reliable PCIe 4.0 SSD with a strong track record, and if your PS5 or PC genuinely needs the storage today, this isn't a bad drive to buy at a bad time. Just don't buy it expecting a deal, and don't let a "was $X" badge on a listing fool you — check it against real numbers, because a lot of retailers are still showing pre-shortage strikethrough prices next to shortage-era current prices, which makes some listings look like discounts when they're actually markups.
Bottom line: Skip it if you can wait. There's no genuine discount active anywhere I could verify, and every signal points to prices staying elevated well into 2027. If you need the storage now, buy it and move on — but go in knowing you're paying shortage pricing, not sale pricing.
