External Drive Prices Surge at Apple as Storage Shortages Worsen

Apple retail stores have significantly increased the prices of external hard drives as the tech industry faces ongoing memory and storage shortages. The changes affect multiple storage configurations and brands across both physical locations and Apple's online storefront.



The price hikes reflect a broader component squeeze tied in part to demand from artificial intelligence data centers. We previously noted that contract pricing for flash memory was set to jump significantly this year as suppliers shift capacity toward higher-margin enterprise customers. That pressure is now reaching retail shelves and impacting widely used storage accessories.


According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the cost of a 4TB SanDisk solid-state external drive sold through Apple recently surged from roughly $500 to $1,200. The 1TB version of the same drive climbed from $120 to $360. Similar price adjustments have impacted other storage manufacturers stocked by the company. While third-party vendors ultimately set retail pricing, the scale of these increases highlights how constrained the supply chain has become.

Finding an external drive to purchase at all is proving difficult. Online inventory through Apple is effectively depleted, leaving customers to rely on limited stock at brick-and-mortar Apple Store locations. This scarcity is not limited to Apple's ecosystem. Major third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy are displaying similar inventory shortages and elevated pricing for portable storage solutions.

The component crunch is already affecting Apple's broader product lineup. The company has raised prices on some Mac models this month as component costs increase, underscoring how supply constraints are beginning to impact end users more directly.

Apple did increase the base storage to 1TB on its recently released M5 Pro MacBook Pro models to give users more local headroom. Even so, video editors and photographers inevitably require external archiving. For those buyers, supply constraints suggest pricing pressure may continue as the year progresses.