Why are external (2.5") 6/8 TB HDD's still not available? When can we expect a new wave of 2.5" HDDs with higher capacity?

[Cyanide2x4]

I believe it was around a year or two ago that Seagate first released their 5TB external (portable/2.5") hard drives.

These drives (portable 5TB 2.5 inch) are now unbelievably affordable (approx 150 USD), but the intriguing aspect of the whole market is that Western Digital has not even entered the 5TB game when it comes to portable drives! There are simply no portable 5TB WD drives out there.

I am trying to understand how the whole technology works and what fuels a sudden increase in storage capacity on 2.5" drives. Additionally, I also have the following questions:

1. Why hasn't Western Digital come up with a 5TB portable (2.5") drive as of yet, even though Seagate released theirs more than a year ago? Has WD announced anything?

2. When can we expect to see 6TB or 8TB portable (2.5") drives?

3. What drives the progress of the storage technology when it comes to 2.5" drives and is there a way to predict, for example, when we can expect to see portable 10 TB drives on the market?

4. Finally, has there been any official news coming out from any of the big names in the storage world pointing out to a higher capacity external/portable 2.5" drive planned for release?

 

[Saga Lout]

I could be wrong but my inner cynic suspects that may happen when the majority of NAS manufacturers stop using 3.5"s.

When that demand hits the disk makers order books they will respond immediately and it may not be too far off.