I think they ask a lot for SSD anyway and want to leave a little difference on purpose.
They won’t want to make the SSD a cheap replacement.
Both to simply earn good money and to give people too much, they are satisfied with the budget model SSD if it will already be an entry-level 10TB. Now they are a bit artificially short for simple users, 256-512GB is already enough.
Gamer would like 1-4TB soon anyway.
Someone for work with rendering or server / large tasks who really wants everything on SSD, they definitely want 4-16TB space and professional server still the multiple or endless demand.
Scaling up and stacking tiny chips of less than a gram costs no material, so no material about 1/200 of that is gold on something that already weighs less than 1 gram.
Only the purchase of machines and R&D is expensive. I think SSD has long since overtaken the Hard disk that can literally offer it for next to nothing if they want to. Although they then saturate the market very quickly and large profits are a thing of the past. In addition, the HDD manufacturers immediately turn their necks.
If they want, they can probably push 16TB on an M.2 tomorrow and still make a profit even if they ask 100 euros for it. The problem is then people don’t have to buy anything for the next 10+ years until it breaks. The SSD lifespan will also be much longer with that capacity because SSD lifespan simply scales well with more large ones, so they get old less quickly. Because the same cells don’t get rewritten over and over.
This also used to happen with light bulbs, car parts, etc. A product that is too successful and has been developed too far will no longer break or meet expectations. The manufacturer protects itself by ensuring that the product is no longer relevant after x number of years. You do this by not offering enough capacity or shortening the lifespan, sealing everything up and making it irreplaceable. (Planned obsolescence) So that they can welcome their current customers again and again.
I like that SSD Prices are finally dropping again because my demand remains high for them but I don’t buy them because I think they are too expensive. I even have 5 TB now. 1x1TB 2x1TB 1x2TB. I would prefer just 2x4TB or 1x8TB m.2 in the future, more is always welcome, I can still get them full