Micron Discontinuing Lexar Removable Storage Retail Business

[Canon Rumors Guy]

Well, here’s a bit of a shocking story. It looks like the Lexar brand of memory cards, USB flash drives and storage drives is <a href="https://www.micron.com/about/blogs/2017/june/micron-discontinuing-lexar-removable-storage-retail-business">being discontinued by parent company Micron</a>. I personally use Lexar cards for all my cameras, but I guess it’s time to move on to SanDisk, the biggest brand in the world.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://petapixel.com/2017/06/27/r-p-lexar-memory-cards/">According to PetaPixel</a>:</strong></p>
<blockquote><p>We’re hearing that huge business from other revenue streams had made Lexar’s consumer-facing business relatively insignificant.</p>
<p>“Apparently Amazon and Google have been buying so much flash memory from them that there is no need for push for the retail side of things,” one industry retail source tells PetaPixel.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>From Micron</strong></p>
<blockquote><p>Micron Technology today announced that it is discontinuing its Lexar® retail removable media storage business. The decision was made as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to focus on its increasing opportunities in higher value markets and channels.</p>
<p>The Lexar portfolio includes memory cards, USB flash drives, readers, and storage drives for retail and OEM customers.</p>
<p>Micron is exploring opportunities to sell all or part of the Lexar business.</p>
<p>The company will continue to provide support to existing customers through this transition period. Customers should contact their Lexar sales representative to discuss specific requirements.</p>
<p>I’d like to thank our team members and partners for their contributions to the Lexar business. As difficult as this decision is, the company is making this adjustment in its business to ensure it continues to be well-positioned for the future.</p></blockquote>
<p>If you can’t stand the thought of not buying Lexar memory cards anymore, <a href="https://bhpho.to/2rYxOQQ">B&H Photo still has a ton of them in stock</a>.</p>
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[H. Jones]

Whoa, that was unexpected. Almost every photographer I know has at least one Lexar card, if not all of their cards. I personally use SanDisk, but I've always used Lexar card readers and have been eyeing their Workflow Hub recently. Plus, competition is badly needed considering the prices of CFast cards!

Hope that someone picks them up and continues selling their products.

 

[Khalai]

Whoa, that was unexpected. Almost every photographer I know has at least one Lexar card, if not all of their cards. I personally use SanDisk, but I've always used Lexar card readers and have been eyeing their Workflow Hub recently. Plus, competition is badly needed considering the prices of CFast cards!

Hope that someone picks them up and continues selling their products.

I hope they will. I have a mixture of SanDisk and Lexar SD cards as well. And Lexar card-readers are amazing to boot.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Hope that someone picks them up and continues selling their products.

Bummer, even though I use SanDisk.

Still, it's a very well-reputed brand...seems likely that someone will buy it. The question is, will that someone buy the production, or just the label...and even if the former, will the quality be maintained?

 

[jdramirez]

My concern would be someonewould buy the name... But not the manufacturing standards. Honestly... As this last batch runs out... I'd wait a few years to buy another lexar branded memory card until we see if the standards are upheld.

Whoa, that was unexpected. Almost every photographer I know has at least one Lexar card, if not all of their cards. I personally use SanDisk, but I've always used Lexar card readers and have been eyeing their Workflow Hub recently. Plus, competition is badly needed considering the prices of CFast cards!

Hope that someone picks them up and continues selling their products.

 

[jdramirez]

Same line of thinking... I hate that line about great minds thinking alike because it is so demonstrably false...

Hope that someone picks them up and continues selling their products.

Bummer, even though I use SanDisk.

Still, it's a very well-reputed brand...seems likely that someone will buy it. The question is, will that someone buy the production, or just the label...and even if the former, will the quality be maintained?

 

[jolyonralph]

Another Lexar card and card-reader user here, but I'm not particularly brand loyal and will buy SanDisk, Transcend or whatever else happens to fit the right performance/capacity/price ratio at the time.

 

[foo]

Still, it's a very well-reputed brand...seems likely that someone will buy it. The question is, will that someone buy the production, or just the label...and even if the former, will the quality be maintained?

Micron makes the flash devices inside the Lexar cards as well - doesn't sound like they're selling off their nand-flash business, just the Lexar brand. So seems unlikely that the brand will ever be the same again.

Best you can hope for is that another company who also makes both the chips and the cards buys the brand, but that's probably going to mean either Samsung - or Sandisk... Not sure either of them need to.

 

[tron]

I use Sandisk cards but I always thought of Lexar cards as viable alternatives. Shame.

 

[AvTvM]

totally irrelevant, what label is printed on memory cards. As long as they perform well, are reliable and not costly .. i don't care.

 

[tron]

totally irrelevant, what label is printed on memory cards. As long as they perform well, are reliable and not costly .. i don't care.

I agree but all these assuming you know the labels of the cards that are reliable...

 

[bsbeamer]

This is a real bummer. The Lexar 1066x CF cards are fantastic cards and much better cost per GB than some other manufacturers. Love the Lexar CF/SD dual slot card readers. Will have to keep an eye on upcoming sales and likely pickup some closeout stock. (Also a Sandisk user, but mostly for SD/SDXC.)

 

[mdmphoto]

...bought my first Lexar cards on the recommendation of a pro friend who swore by them, but also because they were on sale, or course. They supplanted my sandisk cards: I actually use both, but when all things are otherwise equal, I go with the Lexars. Over the years I've had a few failures with sandisk cards wherein the data couldn't be read without some effort at research and trickery, albeit infrequently; but I've never had that problem (Knock-Knock) with my Lexars, - even when an SD was physically damaged around the contacts.

 

[cpreston]

I see this as a problem for competition in the market. I viewed Lexar and Sandisk as the two primary reliable brands. When looking for approved media, those were the only two brands that seemed to show up for cameras and recorders. Sometimes you would see a Transcend card. Maybe Transcend will take up the slack, but it's a pretty big loss for competition for Sandisk and it could have an effect on the downward pressure on prices.

 

[AvTvM]

never used Lexar. Always Sandisk. No failure with CF or SD/Micro-SD cards ever.

 

[Luds34]

I mostly have SanDisk cards but do have some of the Lexar 1000x UHS-II Sd cards and they have been great. This is how naive I am, I didn't even know Lexar was essentially micron. Micron makes a good product and it sounds like business is booming and it's just easier for them to simplify. Too bad, just hope we don't see a small bump in prices from the other quality brand.

 

[slclick]

Jobs in Utah disappearing as well? https://www.micron.com/about/locations/USA/Lehi

 

[IglooEater]

Hmmm I actually use SanDisk, but I hate to see them hold the monopoly on reputable memory cards. We will almost certainly see price bumps at SanDisk...

 

[goldenhusky]

Thanks CR admin. Sad to see Micron' decision on this. I see so many variety of Lexar cards are already marked as discontinued at b&h. Just ordered twin pack CF and SD cards. For some reason I am not a fan of Sandisk. Except a few Transcends (mostly I don't use them because they are older and slower) I use pretty much Lexar exclusively. I hope micron will reverse this decision in future if not I will sadly miss Lexar cards for ever.

 

[Orangutan]

never used Lexar. Always Sandisk. No failure with CF or SD/Micro-SD cards ever.

Never used Lexar. Always Transcend. No failure with CF or SD/Micro-SD cards ever.