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Apple Rumored to Be After Samsung Flash Memory

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the we-wants-it-it's-precious-to-ussss dept.

Steve Nixon writes "An unconfirmed report today from Reuters quotes an industry analyst firm iSuppli as saying that Apple plans to buy as much as 40 percent of Samsung's second-half flash memory output. The NAND flash memory cards will be used in a new, 4 GB iPod Mini, which Apple would release in time for the holiday shopping season, the report stated. The current version of the 4 GB mini contains a hard drive. Apple's iPod Shuffle uses flash memory."

5 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. 40 percent is pretty significant by sexyrexy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't think the big news here is that Apple is making a Shuffle-Mini hybrid, but that Fourty percent of the world's Samsung Flash memory stock is going to be eaten by a single buyer. Think about how many different manufacturers and resellers buy that memory - and 40% of it is going to Apple. Wow.

    --

    Rex is 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
  2. Perhaps an array by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Nothing says Apple has to stick with using only one 4GB flash memory... (beyond price).

    A smaller Mini that holds 8GB might go over well, and fit even better between the large iPods and the Shuffle.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  3. Re:It's great as long as...... by WombatControl · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is getting to be an urban legend...

    Yes, flash memory has a limited lifespan. So too does magnetic media. One can reasonably expect at least 10,000 write cycles on a particular NAND gate for consumer level flash memory - and that's the barest minimum. It's even more likely that you'll get a million cycles out of consumer NAND flash memory these days. And even that is conservative - it could be several million.

    In normal operation, how long would it take before you would use up a million writes on a particular sector? And with arranging files intelligently on the memory, that's going to be less of a concern. Do you completely recreate your entire music library on your iPod every single time you add a song? Probably not. Would you do this a million times before buying a new iPod. I'm guessing no.

    The number of cycles on current NAND flash technology is more than enough to last for years. Granted, I wouldn't want to use it for a swap partition, but for storing your music library you should be perfectly fine.

  4. Mini-Disc by Alistar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ok, I have to wonder, why these never caught on. I have a mini-disc player and I love it.

    I get 30 hours off of one AA, 15 off the rechargable.
    I can throw my MP3's on it easily, (sonicstage sure, stupid program, but its easy)
    I pay $5 for 1GB discs and it came with one.
    Playlist management on the device.
    Plus I can record through a mic to it, transfer back and forth and whatnot.
    It has never skipped for me.
    They are fairly small, smaller than an IPod.
    USB, optical or stereo jack in.
    Anyway, yea, I would love to be enlightened

  5. i think the interesting news here by utexaspunk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    is that if apple buys up 40% of their production, they're likely to seriously increase their production in the next year, and the market will likely be flooded in a couple years. it has been a long time coming, but flash ram is about to undergo a serious price drop. combined with continual improvements in scaling and capacity, perhaps this means we'll have 40GB flash drives by 2007. that ought to shake things up a bit...