Packaging and Contents
The Drive
The drive uses the M.2 2280 form factor, which makes it 22 mm wide and 80 mm long. You will find the SSD controller and a single flash chip on the PCB. The other side of the board is empty.
Instead of PCIe x4 3.0, WD has opted for a narrower x2 interface, which has a theoretical transfer rate limit of 2 GB/s.
We're not exactly sure what the QR code in the middle is for. It could be some sort of anti-counterfeit measure or is used during production.
The 4-channel flash controller is made by SanDisk (which is now owned by WD). Further details are not available.
The TLC flash chip is made by SanDisk in collaboration with Toshiba. It is built using 64-layers on a 15 nanometer 3D NAND production process.