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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."

17 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdot by kevin_conaway · · Score: 5, Funny

    Rumors for nerds. Stuff that may turn out to matter tomorrow.

    1. Re:Slashdot by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 4, Funny

      This is actually Step 2 in the The Apple Product Cycle

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  2. Snappier? No, flashier! by FunWithHeadlines · · Score: 4, Funny
    So will the constant in-joke among the Mac crowd change from:

    "It just feels snappier!"

    to

    "It just seems flashier!"

  3. All your memory are belong to us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    All your memory are belong to us. Well 40% of it anyways. After we pay you for it.

    Sincerely,

    Apple Computer

  4. A small gap already by rob_squared · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Having a 4GB iPod for $50 less thana full iPod seemed like a bad idea, but it worked. I'm wondering if using flash, which should increase price, will shorten the gap between the Mini and the low-end iPod. Then again, maybe apple wants people to notice the GB/price ratio and get the full-fledged iPod instead.

    --
    I don't get it.
  5. 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
  6. More info by i_should_be_working · · Score: 5, Informative

    More info here

    Looks like Samsung is wooing Apple with a price reduction. Samsung also makes mp3 players. Seems like they would hoard the memory for themselves. Maybe they have figured out the sweet spot, in terms of profit, of how much to keep for themselves and how much to sell to the best selling brand.

  7. Re:About time by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know! I go through about 10 or 20 hard drives per day and have to wear safety goggles because of all the shards of platters flying about!

    --
    Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
  8. Re:Finally by Golias · · Score: 5, Informative

    I call FUD. I jog with my 20GB iPod every day, and I've never had a problem.

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  9. 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
  10. A long, long time by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Informative

    This has been brought up in photography circles for quite some time. A surprising number of people were adverse to flash based Compact Flash (CF) cards because of this.

    BUT - you get unlimited reads, lots and lots of writes (about 10^6 with modern cards) and the write longevity can be improved by buffering algorithms. I wouldn't use flash for a swap file, but unless your taste in music changes every 30 seconds, flash memory should be just fine.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  11. Re:how will it change the price? by TrippTDF · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...which is exactly what Apple does, doesn't it?

    Apple almost never drops their prices, they just make things better at the current price point... remember, $300 5 years ago got you a black and white 5 GB iPod... look what it gets you now.

    I bet it will be redesigned a little, but the price is going to stay where it is.

  12. Re:Finally by Reducer2001 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I call FUD on you! People who post to ./ don't jog, their only heavy breathing occurs when a bugfix is released to the Linux kernel.

    --
    When you get to hell -- tell 'em Itchy sent ya!
  13. 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.

  14. 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

    1. Re:Mini-Disc by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Anyway, yea, I would love to be enlightened

      No problem.

      1. ipods run MP3's natively. No encoding to a proprietary format (ATRAC) and losing quality as with minidisc.

      2. "sonicstage sure, stupid program, but its easy" Meet iTunes. It's not stupid, it's quite awesome, and quite easy. And it's a great portal into a digital music store.

      3. You have to use interchangeable discs. My iPod has 40GB. I have 5000 songs, over a dozen audiobooks, and now a dozen constantly synced podcasts on this thing. I drive a lot, and what I feel like listening to at any given moment can change frequently.

      4. You can use ipods like portable hard drives. Because they are.

      5. Apple engineering. Sorry, the iPods are a thing of beauty and great UI. This counts, A LOT.

      6. Marketing. iPods are hip. MDs were never hip. Yeah, this counts as well. When you see white headphones, you know there's an ipod on the other end. Steve Jobs is fucking brilliant at marketing.

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  15. 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...