SanDisk Cuts 64GB Ultra Flair Flash Drive to $17, 55% Off for Prime Day

Q: Amid soaring memory prices, why is this highly-rated SanDisk drive getting a steep 55% discount?

The steep discount is most likely a Prime Day pricing tactic, not a sign that memory costs have suddenly eased. The broader market is moving the other way. NAND and other memory prices have been rising sharply, driven by AI servers, data centers and automakers competing for supply, while manufacturers prioritize higher-margin products such as enterprise SSDs and HBM. That has tightened supply for consumer storage, including USB drives. Against that backdrop, the $17 SanDisk Ultra Flair appears to be a retailer-led promotional outlier. Prime Day is built around short-term, high-visibility markdowns that drive traffic, boost Prime engagement and push volume on selected products. Sellers and Amazon often accept thinner margins on specific items to win attention during the event, and storage accessories are common “hook” products because they are inexpensive, broadly useful and easy to promote. There is also a product-cycle reason the drive can be discounted so heavily. The Ultra Flair is a solid but older-style USB-A 3.0 flash drive, while the market is shifting toward faster USB 3.2 products and dual USB-A/USB-C designs. That makes it easier to mark down a well-reviewed legacy model without undermining newer premium lines. So the 55% cut is best understood as a mix of Prime Day promotion, inventory-clearing on an older but still useful model, and aggressive competition for shopper attention—not evidence that flash memory prices are falling.

3 articles · Updated · ZDNet · Jun 25

$17 buys SanDisk's 64GB Ultra Flair flash drive during Amazon's Prime Day, down from $40 and cheaper than the model's regular 16GB version at $26.
The USB-A 3.0 drive offers read and write speeds up to 150 MB/s, letting users move large files such as 4K video in minutes.
SanDisk also pitches durability and security: the drive has a metal casing and password protection backed by 128-bit AES encryption, with Windows and Mac compatibility.
The sale runs during Amazon's June 23-26 Prime Day event, though the discount can expire or sell out before the promotion ends.