Samsung’s SSD throne wobbles on homeground as rivals close the gap

By Kunal Khullar Published March 25, 2025

Samsung is known to make some of the best NVMe solid state drives but its dominance in the M.2 SSD market appears to be waning. As per new data from Danawa Research there has been a steady decline in its market share, specifically in Korea.

In March 2024, Samsung held a strong 25.37% share of the market, but by February 2025, that number had fallen to just 14.08%. This 11.29% drop suggests that competitors are successfully capturing a larger portion of the market, as consumers explore alternative options offering better performance, pricing, or reliability.

One of the biggest winners in this shift has been Western Digital (WD). The company saw its market share grow from 10.89% in March 2024 to 27.3% in February 2025, making it one of the most significant challengers to Samsung’s dominance. This 16.41% increase indicates that WD’s SSD offerings, particularly its high-performance and competitively priced models, are resonating well with buyers.

Meanwhile, SK Hynix, which started as the market leader with 44.95% in March 2024, experienced a decline but remains in a strong position. By February 2025, its share had dropped to 33.64%, though it still holds the largest portion of the market. The brand’s SSDs continue to appeal to a broad audience, but the steady decline suggests that its competitors are making gains.

Micron has maintained a more stable presence in the market, fluctuating between 12-14% throughout the year. While not seeing the explosive growth of WD, it has managed to hold onto a solid segment of the SSD market, appealing to users looking for reliability and value.

The increasing competition in the SSD space has been driven by a combination of aggressive pricing, advancements in PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 technology, and shifting consumer preferences toward larger-capacity drives. As these trends continue, it remains to be seen whether Samsung can reclaim its lost ground or if the market will continue to favor brands like WD and SK Hynix. Either way, the SSD landscape is undergoing a major transformation, giving consumers more choices than ever before.

The report also shows a strong shift towards PCIe 4.0 SSDs, which accounted for 69.29% of sales in February 2025. As more motherboards and gaming consoles support PCIe 4.0, users are prioritizing faster speeds, while PCIe 3.0 SSDs have declined to 27.56%. This trend suggests that despite their affordability, older-generation drives are losing appeal as consumers seek better performance for gaming and professional workloads.

The trend in M.2 SSD capacities shows that 1TB has become the new standard. In 2021, 500GB SSDs dominated with a 52.74% share, but their popularity has steadily declined, dropping to 23.82% by early 2025. Meanwhile, 1TB SSDs have surged from 31.75% to 48.8%, making them the new standard for most users.

Notably, 2TB SSDs have gained significant traction, rising from just 6.74% in 2021 to 19.48% in 2025, reflecting increasing storage demands for gaming, professional workloads, and large application installations. This trend suggests that as SSD prices drop and file sizes grow, consumers are prioritizing larger storage options.

It is important to note that while these figures are for the Korean market, the global numbers should, more or less, reflect similar results.