Overview
- SanDisk announced the Optimus GX PRO 850P line Tuesday and posted PlayStation‑licensed PCIe Gen4 M.2 specs and an integrated PlayStation‑branded heatsink on its website.
- The drives are rated as Gen4 NVMe with up to about 7,300 MB/s reads, up to about 6,600 MB/s writes, NVMe 1.4 support, multi‑TB endurance figures and a five‑year warranty.
- SanDisk listed the 1TB, 2TB, 4TB and 8TB models at $379.99, $759.99, $1,499.99 and $2,959.99 respectively, with the site showing those prices as discounted from higher MSRPs and no broad buy button yet.
- Reporters and shoppers compared the new prices to near‑identical earlier WD_Black/WD Blue drives and found the 8TB tag represents a roughly 360–370% jump versus recent retail prices, triggering strong consumer backlash online.
- Analysts say the markup reflects an industrywide NAND shortage driven by AI datacenter demand and rising component costs, a pressure that has already prompted console price increases and could keep SSD upgrade costs high even as cheaper Gen4 and Gen5 alternatives remain available.