Samsung Now Also Accused Of Bait And Switching Its SSDs

When you buy something, usually you should get what you purchase within a certain degree of expectations. When you don’t, then that would be like cheating, wouldn’t you say? The other day we heard a disturbing report of how Western Digital was apparently bait and switching its SSDs, where review units offered up the advertised performance, but the actual units did not.

It was reported then that other SSD makers like Adata, Crucial, and Patriot were also found to have done the same thing, and now it looks like we might be able to add Samsung to that list. This is according to a report from Computerbase.de who spotted a video on YouTube in Chinese where it compares two seemingly identical Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSDs.

On the surface, both drives appear to be similar, along with all its identifying text and labels. However, the older drive has the model number MZVLB1T0HBLR, while the newer one has the model number MZVL21T0HBLU. They then peeled back the stickers and discovered that underneath, it was a different story.

The older model uses the Phoenix drive while the newer one uses an Elpis drive. Performance wise, the benchmarks show that on some fronts, both drives are identical, but on other tests, the one with the Elpis one performs far worse.
Previous reports had attributed the chip shortage as one of the reasons why SSD makers have had to seek out alternatives to certain components, but the lack of transparency is what’s bothering many people, especially if these drives do not live up to their advertised claims.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: Samsung, Social Hit