Intel recently announced that it will be discontinuing all of its Optane-only SSDs for markets. More surprisingly, the chipmaker also announced that there are no replacements for said SSDs.
To be precise, the discontinued SSDs include the Optane Memory M10, 800P, 900P, and 905P SSDs, the latter having launched more than two years prior. As to why Intel chose to discontinue it, the company explained that it pretty much plans on focusing on pushing for its new Optane Memory H20 with SSD for its targeted market segment.
On that note, one of the main attractions for the Optane Memory H20 series is that it uses Intel’s new 144-layer QLC 3DNAND technology, allowing the component to house 32GB of Optane Memory and a choice of 512GB or 1TB of storage. While also being able to maintain NVMe Gen3 speeds. The only drawback right now, however, is that Optane Memory H20 is primarily designed to work with thin and light, high-performance laptops, and not desktop systems for now.
On another note, the discontinuation period of Intel’s Optane Memory SSDs is very, very brief. Specifically, the order date was merely a few days ago – 15 January – while the last shipment date for all three series will be 26 February 2021.
Another reason behind Intel’s discontinuation could also be contributed to Intel’s sale of its NAND business to the South Korean chipmaker, SK Hynix, while still retaining the Optane Memory portion of it. It’s not a surprising decision, given both the uniqueness and exclusivity of Intel’s 3D XPoint technology.
(Source: Tom’s Hardware)
