Sales volume of USB flash drives in Germany 2004-2023
USB flash drives experienced fluctuating sales numbers in recent years, with about 10.55 million units sold in 2023. This was a decrease compared to the previous year.
Storage media
USB flash drives revolutionized data storage for computer users everywhere when they emerged on the market, joining such well-known storage media as floppy discs, hard drives and optical storage units like CD-R and CD-RW discs. Prices varied in 2022 according to type. The most expensive storage product in this case were hard drives at 104 euros, followed by memory cards and USB flash drives. That year, over 28 million blank DVDs were sold, making it the most bought storage medium, ahead of memory cards and USBs.
File storage options
The falling number of USB flash drive sales suggests that they are becoming a less popular way for people to back up their data. This may be due to the expansion of cloud data storage options, such as the online services Google Drive and Dropbox, to make just a few examples. Often using a cloud storage option allows you a certain amount of free storage and then you can opt to pay for more, on a monthly subscription.