Photographers are currently benefiting from cheap memory cards with prices falling 80% in the past two years.

The cost per megabyte of a memory card has fallen from 15p to just 3p since 2005, reports leading market research firm GfK. The continued growth of online purchasing has lead to strong unit sales, however, increasing reductions in price have meant that margins of sales in memory cards have been vastly cut.

The most popular capacity is now 1GB, accounting for 42% of the market volume in February 2007. The increase has been reflected across the capacity range, with price falls making larger capacity cards more affordable, and the need for memory for mobile phones boosting popularity in smaller format cards

Susie Whales, Account Manager in GfK?s Photo Division said ?Big price drops mean that consumers are now getting a lot more memory for their money. If prices fall further it will be interesting to see if consumers start buying memory cards to use them like a traditional film, leaving photos stored on one card and buying a new card for a different set.?