O'Grady's PowerPage

Tag: Micron

  • Rumor: Entire iPhone 17 lineup could feature 12GB of RAM

    Rumor: Entire iPhone 17 lineup could feature 12GB of RAM

    The rumor mill has it that Apple’s “iPhone 17 Air” will feature 12GB of RAM.

    According to noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in a blog post on Thursday, the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all be equipped with 12GB of RAM. He previously only expected the iPhone 17 Pro Max to have 12GB of RAM, so this is good news for customers who will be purchasing the other models.

    Kuo also suggested that even the base-model iPhone 17 would arrive with 12GB of RAM, but only if supply chain shortages can be overcome. He said that Apple will make a final decision on the amount of RAM it will offer in this device by May.

    All of the models in Apple’s iPhone 16 lineup are equipped with 8GB of RAM, so a jump to 12GB would mark a significant increase. The additional RAM could also contribute to improved performance for Apple Intelligence and multitasking.

    Even if the base-model iPhone 17 sticks with 8GB of RAM, Kuo said he expects all models in the iPhone 18 lineup to have 12GB of RAM.

    Kuo said the increased RAM will primarily benefit Apple suppliers Micron and SK Hynix.

    It’s thought that Apple will announce the iPhone 17 models and their specifications around the usual time in September.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and mingchikuo.craft.me

  • Rumor: iPhone 15 Pro models could feature 8GB of RAM, offer up to 1TB of storage

    Rumor: iPhone 15 Pro models could feature 8GB of RAM, offer up to 1TB of storage

    The rumor mill is in full swing, and the current word on the street is that the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models will be available in the following storage configurations, which Apple has been testing:

    • 128 GB
    • 256 GB
    • 512 GB
    • 1 TB

    For the storage options, Apple is using NAND from the following vendors:

    • SK Hynix
    • Western Digital
    • Kioxia
    • Samsung

    While there were rumors of a 2TB storage configuration, this doesn’t seem to have surfaced. An additional rumor sourced from a Weibo leak suggested that the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ would start with 256GB of storage, but that appears to be incorrect as well. Storage options will align with the storage tiers of the iPhone 14 Pro.

    Where RAM is concerned, Apple seems to be leaning towards LPDDR5 DRAM for the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌, the same RAM type found in last year’s flagship devices. Two RAM configurations were tested — 6GB and 8GB, with the RAM supplied by the following companies:

    • Samsung
    • Micron
    • SK Hynix

    It’s currently unknown as to which of these RAM configurations Apple chose for its final mass-production units. It’s speculated that the RAM will vary given the unit’s storage capacity, the higher-end units being outfitted with 8GB of RAM as opposed to 6GB. TrendForce has also reported that Apple will offer 8GB on its iPhone 15 Pro model, so the 6GB configuration may have been scrapped.

    Besides RAM, the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ will use an upgraded A17 SoC built using TSMC’s new 3nm manufacturing process. The A17 is expected to feature an additional GPU core, allowing for better graphics performance. Additionally, the performance cores will feature an increased clock speed of 3.70 GHz, up from the 3.46 GHz of the A16.

    Other anticipated improvements for the iPhone 15 Pro include an all-new titanium frame, USB-C, and a periscope zoom lens on the ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors, Weibo, and TrendForce

  • Contaminated materials ruin 6.5 million terabytes of flash storage supply, could lead to price hike

    Contaminated materials ruin 6.5 million terabytes of flash storage supply, could lead to price hike

    This probably isn’t the kind of thing you want happening among your suppliers.

    According to Bloomberg, Western Digital and Kioxia Corp. reduced production at two plants in Japan after contaminated materials were discovered, thereby ruining approximately 6.5 million terabytes of storage. The incident could lead to further price inflation and delays in consumer electronics.

    Western Digital, and Kioxia are currently two of the largest producers of flash memory in the industry, and contamination of materials as their plants in Yokkaichi and Kitakami have led to limited production of flash memory, which in turn could affect the larger industry.

    It’s unknown as to how extensive the disruption could be, and a Wells Fargo analyst says when combined with Kioxia’s loss of production, the number would be about 16 exabytes lost.

    The incident could also combine with industry price hikes and a strained global supply chain that could lead to supply shortages and price increases.

    However, Samsung and Micron may be able to limit industry impact with their own flash memory production. Since flash memory is an industry-standard, the components can be sourced from any company.

    Flash memory is used to produce solid-state memory used in Apple’s iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch products. While Samsung is a major producer of these components, a reduction in supply from two other major suppliers will place increased demand on Samsung’s output.

    Western Digital and Kioxia have yet to provide an estimate as to when production will be restored, and it’s thought that the total impact of the incident will be about 10 percent of the market consumption for a quarter.

    Kioxia’s statement worked to be more positive, pointing out that the product line impacted produced 3D flash, which is newer and more expensive. It estimates that shipments of its conventional 2D NAND flash memory will not be affected.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via AppleInsider and Bloomberg

  • Apple publishes support document describing 2018 iPad Pro manufacturing process, cites 400 micron tolerance for bends

    Apple has taken another step in its efforts to derail the 2018 iPad Pro “BendGate” story, publishing a support document detailing the new iPad Pro’s enclosure manufacturing process, in an attempt to assure customers that the new device is durable and strong.

    The document, published late on Friday, describes the manufacturing process used to fabricate the iPad Pro casing.

    The company offered the following description of the issue:

    (more…)

  • iFixit releases teardown report of 2016 12-inch Retina MacBook

    12-inch-macbook-teardown

    The cool cats at iFixit have just completed the full teardown of Apple’s new 2016 12-inch Retina MacBook. While the notebook is essentially the same as the previous generation, there are some notable differences.

    First, Apple replaced a tri-wing screw with a much more common Phillips screw, although it continues to use its proprietary Pentalobe screws on the exterior of the case. In the teardown, iFixit noted that it discovered hinge screws for the device which are “filled with some sort of substance that disintegrates when you insert a screwdriver.” The site speculates that it appears to be an Apple effort at “tamper-evident screws,” which in theory could allow the company to know if a third-party or DIY repair attempt has been made voiding warranty.

    (more…)