Dell removes all its historic brands to “simplify” its range

Madness or stroke of genius? Dell has announced a radical change in its range, removing all of its historic brands in one fell swoop, such as XPS, Inspiron and Latitude, to simplify the range with three new lines: Dell, Dell Pro and Dell. ProMax. An approach which aims to make the offer clearer, but which could leave customers accustomed to the old names perplexed. Isn’t that going to be a boomerang? Future Dell laptops will only have three variants: Dell, Dell Pro and Dell Pro Max, each with three variants, Base, Plus and Premium, which will cover all market segments, from the cheapest to the high-end models.

– Dell: Laptops designed for gaming, school and work.
– Dell Pro: Laptops designed for professional productivity.
– Dell Pro Max: laptops designed to deliver the best performance.

Let’s immediately look at some concrete examples. The popular XPS 13 will be replaced by the new Dell 13 Premium, while Latitude business laptops will enter the Dell Pro Plus range. According to Dell, this simplification will help users better orient themselves when choosing the product. However, getting used to the new nomenclature can take some time, especially for those familiar with the older brands. Additionally, although there are only 3 lines, each of them in turn has 3 variants, so the overall models are not rare and all have very similar names. In short, we are not entirely sure that this is a real “simplification”.

The decision to eliminate these consolidated names represents a challenge: brands such as XPS and Inspiron have indeed built a strong identity over time. Dell, however, is clearly focusing on a communications model similar to that of Apple and Microsoft, which use product lines with simple, recognizable names. And the use of terms such as “Pro” and “Max”, already adopted by Apple, has raised doubts about the possibility of confusing consumers.

Jeff Clarke, COO of Dell, clarified that these are common terms in the industry and that the choice was guided by market research. In other words, Dell decided to follow a model that is now widespread and recognizable by users. We also clarify that current models will continue to be supported until the end of their life. However, with the launch of new products, historical names will gradually disappear from the market.