I wonder why external drives are cheaper than internal drives. One would think that they would be more expensive, since the cost to the manufacturer of an external drive includes not only the drive itself but the adapter contained in the enclosure, the enclosure itself, cables, possibly a power supply, more elaborate packaging and the additional labor required to assemble the external drive. I assume that this consumer cost differential arises from differences in the markets for internal and external drives, but naively it seems like the internal drive market would be more price-sensitive and thus lower margin.
Does anyone know why external drives are typically cheaper than internal drives?
Does anyone know why external drives are typically cheaper than internal drives?