The good news: modular PC maker Framework actually was able to find cheaper SSDs. The bad news? The company sees higher CPU prices in your future.
Right now, Framework is trying to get customers shipments of the new Framework Laptop 13 Pro, which the company launched in late April. Framework already pushed out those shipments until late July to early August, due to manufacturing issues with the haptic touchpad and the custom display. Neither component has been affected as part of Framework’s latest update on its supply chain, a unique, open method of communicating with customers about the state of the industry.
The ongoing shortages of memory and SSD storage have been a thorn in the side of virtually all PC makers; even Apple was forced to make massive price hikes on Thursday for the bulk of its Mac products.
Framework, however, is thankfully going in the opposite direction, with two pieces of good news.
“We were able to qualify and source a new SSD from our partner ADATA, the XPG MARS 970, that offers better performance, efficiency, and long term reliability, and comes in at substantially lower cost than the SSD option we had previously qualified,” Framework founder Nirav Patel said in a blog post.
The 1TB MARS 970 is actually priced lower than the 500GB SSD that Framework had originally included with the Laptop 13 Pro.
That means, believe it or not, that Framework customers who ordered the 500GB SSD will be automatically switched over to the larger 1TB SSD, and pay less. As long as Framework’s inventory holds out, the new ADATA drives will be what you’ll receive if you order a 1TB SSD as part of the Laptop 13 Pro.
CPU shortages coming?
Unfortunately, Framework also alluded that higher prices for laptop CPUs will be arriving soon.
“Note that we have gotten signals that CPU pricing will be increasing soon, so we expect that we will need to adjust the overall system price on Framework Laptop 13 Pro in the coming weeks for new orders,” Patel added. “If you are considering a pre-order, we would recommend getting in now. Note that pre-orders are fully refundable if you change your mind before we’re ready to ship.”
There’s a lot of uncertainty there. Which CPU makers will raise prices, and on which CPUs? In April, Intel signaled that its CPU shortages were over. How much will the price increase be, and will it offset the lower SSD prices? Is this a supply blip or something more?
If this was coming from a competitor, I might be tempted to call this FUD, or “fear, uncertainty, and doubt.” But with silicon being rerouted toward enterprise chips and customers, this might be a bad sign of things to come — and Framework has impressed with its transparency thus far. Stay tuned.
