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Sandisk rebranding WD Blue and Black series to Optimus

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moocow

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A tad confusing history, WD acquired Sandisk in 2016 but then separated the Flash business in 2025. This is why the press release is made under Sandisk and not WD.

TL;DR, they are returning the color coding and using trims instead. WD Blue -> Optimus, WD Black -> Optimus GX, and finally the higher performing WD Black -> Optimus GX Pro.

1767625327199.webp

videocardz.com

Sandisk retires WD_BLACK and WD Blue branding, launches Optimus SSD tiers for 2026 - VideoCardz.com

Sandisk rebrands WD Blue and WD_BLACK SSDs as Optimus, GX, and GX Pro Sandisk used CES 2026 to introduce "Sandisk Optimus" as the new umbrella name for
videocardz.com videocardz.com
 
Ultimately I buy the performance, reliability, cost, etc, so what the box says doesn’t bother me much.

HOWEVER, this seems like a dumb move as WD and more specifically WD Black naming carried a much more positive brand recognition than Sandisk.
 
And where does green fit into this now. What a gong show. Sandisk Green, Blue, Black, Red, Purple would have kept the current recognition of years of products.
 
moocow said:
A tad confusing history, WD acquired Sandisk in 2016 but then separated the Flash business in 2025. This is why the press release is made under Sandisk and not WD.

TL;DR, they are returning the color coding and using trims instead. WD Blue -> Optimus, WD Black -> Optimus GX, and finally the higher performing WD Black -> Optimus GX Pro.

View attachment 45849
videocardz.com

Sandisk retires WD_BLACK and WD Blue branding, launches Optimus SSD tiers for 2026 - VideoCardz.com

Sandisk rebrands WD Blue and WD_BLACK SSDs as Optimus, GX, and GX Pro Sandisk used CES 2026 to introduce "Sandisk Optimus" as the new umbrella name for
videocardz.com videocardz.com
Click to expand...
what about Green and Red? and if they have a Black Pro, why isn't there a Blue Pro?
 
Don't really care if it says sandisk or WD on it, but don't feel like Optimus > Optimus GX > Optimus GX Pro is a great naming convention, suspect a few people will mix up which is which or not realize they bought a GX instead of a GX pro etc. It's too similar.

Not disastrously bad, but not as nice and simple as green, blue, black a la WD HDDs.
 
Funny. Take a stand on the product name, ok with the sandisk name. WD had a reputation with reliability. Sandisk only had a good name in Flash for cameras etc. Everything else was crap. This is my point. Not just liking an arrangement of letter over the other. WD Meant something. Sandisk meant the opposite. Like taking a Chrysler and putting a Mercedes name on it. Oh...they did that. :ROFLMAO:

And the naming convention is sus. Naming them all the same product line with a couple of letters different at the end is disengenuos. The average person might buy an Optimus not realizinf the want an optimus GX. To me thats BS. Should have named one bumblebee or something. lol
 
crazyea said:
Should have named one bumblebee or something. lol
Click to expand...
Maybe Megatron for the top spec one :ROFLMAO:

I don't think the WD Black naming was really working either since it was a mix of cache & no cache, this at least looks to fix that?
Optimus GX Pro = TLC w/ DRAM
Optimus GX = TLC
Optimus = QLC

But still, no idea why they chose to keep SanDisk as the "brand". I think I would have much rather seen WD branded SD cards and USB drives instead and the SanDisk brand just ceasing to exist.
 
I wasn't to worried about them branding it as Sandisk, as I thought the SSDs were manufactured by the sandisk half of the company anyway and were just labeled WD for marketing purposes.

I assume the change was because they split up the business last year and they're separate companies now and would have to license, or get permission, to continue using WD labelling.
 

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