Samsung's New P9 Is the World's First 8TB USB4 Portable SSD, Here's What It Costs
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Samsung used Gamescom 2026 in Cologne to unveil its next generation of portable storage, and the headline number is hard to miss: the new P9 is the world's first 8TB portable SSD to hit 4,000MB/s over USB4, roughly double the throughput of the previous-generation T9 drive. Alongside it sits the P7, a more affordable everyday drive aimed at gamers and everyday users rather than professional creators. Both were shown on August 26, with a global rollout beginning August 31.
What the P9 actually delivers
The P9 is Samsung's new flagship portable drive, built around the USB4 standard and rated for sequential read speeds up to 4,000MB/s and write speeds up to 3,800MB/s. That sustained write performance is high enough to support 12K direct recording, which matters for anyone shooting on high-end cinema cameras and needing to offload massive RAW files in the field rather than waiting until they're back at a desktop. Samsung is positioning the P9 as compatible across a wide range of hosts, including desktops, laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles, and cameras, so it isn't locked to a single ecosystem.
The P7 targets everyday use
The P7 shares the same USB4 connectivity and broad device compatibility but is aimed at everyday use rather than professional video work. Samsung says it has been through drop testing from heights of up to 6.6 feet, along with shock and vibration testing, which is the kind of durability spec that matters more to someone tossing a drive in a backpack than to a studio editing bay.
The port on your laptop matters more than the spec sheet
Hitting that headline 4,000MB/s figure requires a USB4 40Gbps port, or a Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 5 port, since every Thunderbolt 4 port implements USB4 by specification. USB4 is still far from standard on mainstream laptops, which mostly ship with older USB 3.2 ports. Plug the P9 into a standard USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port and speeds drop to roughly 2,000MB/s, and on a plain USB 3.2 Gen 2 port that falls further to around 1,000MB/s. It's still a fast drive either way, but shoppers comparing the P9 against cheaper options should check what port their laptop actually has before paying for speed they can't use.
Capacities and pricing
Both drives launch in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB capacities. Samsung's US pricing puts the P9 at $339.99 for 1TB, $649.99 for 2TB, $1,349.99 for 4TB, and $2,699.99 for the flagship 8TB model. The P7 comes in lower across the board, starting at $289.99 for 1TB and topping out at $2,289.99 for 8TB. As with most Samsung storage launches, expect UAE retail pricing in AED to track these US figures once the drives clear customs and hit local shelves after the August 31 global rollout.
Why this matters for UAE buyers
Portable SSD demand in the UAE has been climbing alongside the region's growing content creator and gaming scene, and USB4's bandwidth headroom is exactly what closes the gap between a laptop's internal drive and external storage for 4K and 12K footage. For gamers, the P7's speed and durability profile makes it a realistic option for expanding a PS5 or gaming laptop's storage without waiting on a firmware update or worrying about a knock in a bag. Just remember that the P9's full performance depends on having a USB4 or Thunderbolt port to plug it into, so it's worth checking your laptop's spec sheet alongside the drive's. Florence Trading carries Samsung's portable SSD lineup alongside the rest of Samsung's storage and memory catalog, and will be watching for regional availability as these new models roll out.