SanDisk announces iXpand flash drive for iPhone and iPad

MILPITAS, Calif., Nov. 13, 2014 – SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash storage solutions, today announced the SanDisk iXpand™ Flash Drive, the company's first USB Flash Drive designed specifically for iPhone and iPad.

"According to IDC, nearly three-quarters of all images are now captured on smartphones and tablets¹," said Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product marketing, SanDisk. "With this significant increase in mobile-generated content, consumers are looking for easy ways to manage it all. In fact, our research shows that 82% of U.S. smartphone users find transferring photos, videos, music and other files to be very important to them². We created the iXpand Flash Drive to offer consumers a quick and safe way to move their favorite content between devices so it's available when and where they want it."

The iXpand Flash Drive is a powerful, yet simple-to-use solution that quickly transfers photos and videos from an iPhone or iPad to a Mac or PC — all without cables, Internet connections, or bandwidth limitations. In addition, it maintains the original photo or video resolution quality.

The full-featured iXpand sync app is exceptionally intuitive, creating a seamless user experience. It launches when the iXpand Flash Drive is plugged into an iPhone or iPad and can be configured to automatically sync photos and videos from the camera roll to the drive. In addition, users can store their favorite movies on the iXpand Flash Drive and instantly play them directly from the drive on their iPhone or iPad. Most popular movie formats³, including non-native and PC-friendly ones, like AVI & WMV, are supported -- saving time, effort and complexity of converting video formats.

The iXpand sync app also enables cross-platform encryption⁴, offering consumers the ability to transfer and access their sensitive files from iPhone, iPad, PC and Mac computers. Using the iXpand sync app, files can be password-protected on the drive directly from an iPhone or iPad and then easily decrypted on a Mac or PC and vice versa. The iXpand provides users with peace of mind that their files are always secure, while offering flexibility to protect data on the go.

The iXpand Flash Drive is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB* capacities and is compatible with iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 2, iPad mini running iOS 8 or iOS 7. The iXpand Flash Drive was designed with a unique flexible connector so it can connect directly to iPhone or iPad without first removing the protective case. The drive features a premium metal exterior which adds to its durability. The iXpand Flash Drive also comes with a two-year limited warranty⁵.

The iXpand sync app is available on the App Store for iPhone or iPad.

Pricing and Availability

The iXpand Flash Drive will be available in the U.S. at Best Buy stores and at BestBuy.com. Starting November 16, Best Buy stores will exclusively offer the 32GB iXpand Flash Drive at an MSRP of $79.99. The iXpand Flash Drive is available now atSanDisk.com, and is coming soon to select retailers globally. The 16GB and 64GB capacities will be available at $59.99 and $119.99, respectively.

About SanDisk

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company, is a global leader in flash storage solutions. For more than 26 years, SanDisk has expanded the possibilities of storage, providing trusted and innovative products that have transformed the electronics industry. Today, SanDisk’s quality, state-of-the-art solutions are at the heart of many of the world's largest data centers, and embedded in advanced smartphones, tablets and PCs. SanDisk’s consumer products are available at hundreds of thousands of retail stores worldwide. For more information, visit www.sandisk.com.

© 2014 SanDisk Corporation. All rights reserved. SanDisk is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. iXpand is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation. iPad, iPhone, iPad, iPad mini and iPad Air are trademarks of Apple Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

*1GB=1,000,000,000 bytes. Actual user storage less

¹ Source: Worldwide Digital Image 2014-2018 Forecast: The Image Capture and Share Bible (IDC #246469, February 2014) 
² Source: SanDisk consumer market survey of 1,003 participants in the USA, June 2014 
³ Support for .WMV, .AVI, .MKV, .MP4, .MOV video formats. Compatible device required. 
⁴Password protection uses 128-bit AES encryption and is supported by iOS 7+, Mac OS X v10.6+ (Software download required for Mac, (see www.sandisk.com/support/ixpandflashdrive) Windows Vista®, Windows® 7 and Windows 8. 
⁵ See www.sandisk.com/wug