Noctua Talks Black Fans & Coolers

[Marzipan]

Noctua Update Roadmap: World's Best PC Fan in Black for Early 2021

Back in Black!

www.tomshardware.com

there are only two reasons I can think of why Noctua took so long to release black versions of their fans...
- they knew it would be more popular than their red / beige so waited for inventory levels to drop
- they wanted to make it better than the red/ beige version.

anyhow, they mentioned not only black fans, but black colored coolers.

 

[CMetaphor]

What? No more dead fish fans? Ha, so late.

Imagine if Noctua had released regular black fans from the beginning, how much larger their market share and profits would be...

Don't know about you guys, buy both myself and friends I know have rejected Noctua fans in the past 100% because of their looks.

I own multiple Noctua heatsinks but only use 1-2 of their fans (in case where I absolutely cannot see them).

In short, and to repeat myself: late. Ah well.

 

[Marzipan]

What? No more dead fish fans? Ha, so late.

Imagine if Noctua had released regular black fans from the beginning, how much larger their market share and profits would be...

Don't know about you guys, buy both myself and friends I know have rejected Noctua fans in the past 100% because of their looks.

I own multiple Noctua heatsinks but only use 1-2 of their fans (in case where I absolutely cannot see them).

In short, and to repeat myself: late. Ah well.

being I don't like windowed side panels, it's never mattered to me. but I agree, if they had black models sooner, they'd have sold a lot more...but I suspect if they had, their original color scheme would stop selling and leave them with a lot of stagnant stock, so they had to get that low enough to warranty releasing black and not have to write off a loss due to inventory that wouldn't sell.

 

[Sagath]

being I don't like windowed side panels, it's never mattered to me. but I agree, if they had black models sooner, they'd have sold a lot more...but I suspect if they had, their original color scheme would stop selling and leave them with a lot of stagnant stock, so they had to get that low enough to warranty releasing black and not have to write off a loss due to inventory that wouldn't sell.

Noct has been selling poo-poos for a decade at least. And you think this was a stock issue?

 

[Marzipan]

Noct has been selling poo-poos for a decade at least. And you think this was a stock issue?

you got a better theory?

 

[sswilson]

you got a better theory?

Marketing pure and simple.....

For the longest time they thought the benefit of having their products immediately identifiable by folks in the know who would then comment on the fact that they loved the specs, but hated the colours outweighed the loss of sales to folks who just couldn't stomach the colour scheme. (That's my theory anyways.... ).

 

[Marzipan]

Marketing pure and simple.....

For the longest time they thought the benefit of having their products immediately identifiable by folks in the know who would then comment on the fact that they loved the specs, but hated the colours outweighed the loss of sales to folks who just couldn't stomach the colour scheme. (That's my theory anyways.... ).

it's possible...but most companies would alter business practice quickly for the sake of profit...but I still think they wanted to drop inventory levels of their popular models before releasing a black version and killed sales of the less desirable color scheme.

 

[Sagath]

it's possible...but most companies would alter business practice quickly for the sake of profit...but I still think they wanted to drop inventory levels of their popular models before releasing a black version and killed sales of the less desirable color scheme.

Ten. Years.

It wasnt bloody inventory, dude.

 

[Marzipan]

Ten. Years.

It wasnt bloody inventory, dude.

still waiting for you to present a better theory... LoL!

 

[JD]

I'd say its sad that they're giving into market pressure, hopefully it doesn't mean the quality of their products (and included accessories) declines. Every Noctua product I've bought has always been a "wow" experience when unboxing. Beautifully packaged (albeit a tad wasteful) and having all the voltage step-down adapters and extension cables included has meant I've never had to buy such things. I can't say that about any other fan or heatsink I've bought.

They have a fairly iconic brand today, one quick glance and you know it's Noctua. Moving to black means they just become another generic fan or heatsink. They'll definitely be losing out on free marketing now and will have to advertise, get sponsored reviews, etc.