Samsung 970 Pro 2 TB SSD Model Listed

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At least two retailers have begun listing a 2 TB version of Samsung’s 970 Pro SSD. One of the highest performing drives on the market – and one of the only remaining MLC drives – a larger 970 Pro will give high-performance users another option for high-capacity SSDs, eliminating the need to sacrifice performance for capacity – at least at the 2 TB tier.

When Samsung introduced its 970 Pro and 970 Evo SSDs last year, it got itself into a paradox situation. On the one hand, its flagship 970 Pro drives offered superior performance and better endurance because they were based on 3D MLC memory, but the only went to 1 TB. On the other hand, its slightly slower 3D TLC-powered 970 Evo SSDs was available in capacities up to 2 TB. As a result, while performance-wise the 970 Pro was the king, you had to sacrifice some capacity at the high-end to get it.

As it appears, Samsung is finally preparing a 2 TB version of the 970 Pro that will wed capacity and performance. The Samsung 970 Pro 2 TB (MZ-V7P2T0BW) drive will presumably be based on Samsung’s Phoenix controller and, as the current 1TB model is already fully populated with NAND chips, we're not expecting that performance will be much different (for reference, the 1TB model is up to 3500/2700 MB/s for sequential reads/writes without SLC caching). Otherwise, while the 970 Pro is a given to be a 3D MLC-based SSD, it remains to be seen whether Samsung is using the same-generation 64L NAND as on the original models, or if they're going to use this occasion to switch over to 96L NAND. 

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Samsung Denies Existence of 2 TB 970 Pro SSD

In an unusual move, Samsung on Monday denied existence of a 2 TB version of its M.2-2280 970 Pro SSD. The company said that it did not have plans to release such a product, yet did not exclude a possibility of launching such a storage device in the future.

“Samsung has not released a 2TB version of the [970 Pro] drive and there are currently no plans,” a spokesperson for Samsung said Monday. “We will let you know if that ever changes.”

Samsung's public rejection comes after two international retailers in China and in Germany posted product listings for the drive last week. The Chinese retailer went so far as to publish a picture of the drive, whereas the German one revealed its MZ-V7P2T0BW model number. We've also been able to call the German retailer and talk to them directly, confirming that the drive listing is no automation fluke.

In any case, while Samsung’s refuting deserves to be taken at face value, the fact that retailers have photos and model numbers is odd to say the least. How these facts will be ultimately be reconciled – whether it’s some kind of canceled product, a limited release product, or Samsung isn’t ready to announce it quite yet – remains to be seen.

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