Longtime Mac accessory vendor OWC today announced that it has acquired Akitio, maker of popular professional-level external storage solutions focused on Thunderbolt 3. Akitio also offers a number of other Thunderbolt 3 accessories including docks, eGPU boxes, and more.

owc akitio

"This acquisition gives us the opportunity to strengthen our core prosumer lineup and market reach with photography, video and music pros with some really exceptional new offerings," said Larry O'Connor, OWC Founder & CEO. "Our product lines and brands are quite complementary, with Akitio bringing a strong reputation in the Windows space and segments like performance gaming, AR/VR, high-end creative strengths to our base. I see tremendous opportunities ahead for our team and our customers."

While Akitio joins OWC's other brands at OWC's Illinois headquarters, Akitio's teams in California and internationally will remain at their current locations and all customer support and warranty obligations will be honored without interruption.

Tags: Akitio, OWC

Top Rated Comments

StellarVixen Avatar
StellarVixen
89 months ago
Ewwww, I am not glad for this. Akitio was the most affordable manufacturer of TB3 stuff, I am afraid that affordability is gone now...
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AMP12345 Avatar
AMP12345
89 months ago
Maybe I'm slowly becoming a grumpy old man who doesn't like change, but this makes me nervous. I've always had a great experience with Akitio and I'm just not sure OWC can keep that up. Maybe... but only time will tell.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
monokakata Avatar
monokakata
89 months ago
I wonder how much difference this will make, really. It was clear to me that the OWC TB enclosures were really Akitio, rebranded. I've had the 4 bay TB2 model, and the 4 bay TB3 model. The TB3 model is identical physically, but of course I don't know whether the firmware is the same or not.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
macduke
89 months ago
Maybe I'm slowly becoming a grumpy old man who doesn't like change, but this makes me nervous. I've always had a great experience with Akitio and I'm just not sure OWC can keep that up. Maybe... but only time will tell.
Well, I don't have a lot of experience with OWC aside from some RAM which always worked, but in the past I looked all over and bought several USB 3.0 to eSATA controllers for some G-Drives that I had and all of them sucked until I bought the one from OWC which worked amazingly well. So, uh, that's something.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Anarchy99 Avatar
Anarchy99
89 months ago
Akitio is awesome they have been the most affordable for thunderbolt exclosures since prior to TB3 and apple's official support.

OWC are fine for mac accessories but overpriced

bad mix, this is the worst Tech news of 2019 so far. :(
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
keysofanxiety
89 months ago
OWC = Other Worldly Currency

Now these new accessories will cost an arm and a leg. Possibly your first-born too, depending if you take out the extended warranty.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps. More features and changes will follow in future ...
Read Full Article • 109 comments
ios 26 1 liquid glass opaque

iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle

Monday October 20, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass. The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
Read Full Article • 202 comments
iphone air thickness

Apple Said to Cut iPhone Air Production Amid Underwhelming Sales

Friday October 17, 2025 8:29 am PDT by
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec). The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
Read Full Article • 541 comments
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones Coming Soon

Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The update will likely be released by the end of next week. Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
Read Full Article • 47 comments
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

New iPad Pro Has Six Key Upgrades Beyond M5 Chip

Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more. With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
Read Full Article • 95 comments
iPhone Siri Glow

Some Apple Employees Have 'Concerns' About iOS 26.4's Revamped Siri

Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings. iOS 26.4 will...
Read Full Article • 350 comments
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
Read Full Article • 92 comments
maxresdefault

Here's How the iOS 26.1 Transparency Toggle Changes Liquid Glass

Monday October 20, 2025 1:55 pm PDT by
With the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple added a toggle that makes Liquid Glass more opaque and reduces transparency. We tested the beta to see where the toggle works and what it looks like. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. If you have the latest iOS 26.1 beta, you can go to Settings > Display and Brightness to get to the new option. Tap on Liquid Glass, then...
Read Full Article • 136 comments
m4 macbook air blue

M5 MacBook Air Coming Spring 2026 With M5 Mac Studio and Mac Mini in Development

Thursday October 16, 2025 3:57 pm PDT by
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year. Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...
Read Full Article • 116 comments