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Apple Said to Be Stopping Use of TLC NAND Flash in iPhone 6 and 6 Plus After Reported Issues

JohnnyGo said:
My iPhone 6 128Gb is working like a charm. Not a single reboot or crash.:)

If the problem was really widespread we would be having millions of complaints not one or two forum threads with thousands of posts (most likely from a group of hundreds of problematic devices that will get replaced).

Apple has a great warranty / replacement policy. If there are any problems in the future, I am sure I will be able to get a replacement.
Click to expand...

It's Benandagate!
 
Saw this coming a mile away...


Apple gets whats coming to them.... You wanna be smart ? you pay the price when it fails.

This is why Apple should "test" their devices .....

That, i can't stress enough...... If they had quality testing, this would have been found..... I sure hope these replacements are free..... Accept nothing less..... Customers deserve it....

Unfortunately, they only do the odd few..... and that's the real issue. Don't a lazy sod... test every single one.

Kinda reminds me of half baking a cake... it looks like it's cooked, but it sure tastes crap.
 
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RedBanana said:
If it addresses the issue, why are they changing the NAND?

At a guess, it will be a firmware fix with extra testing in the write to flash. Taking the form of reading sectors back in and checking for errors after each write, then re-trying the write, then on another fail marking the block as bad. It'll work for most (only Apple will know how bad this is percentage wise). Anyone with a device that totally fails will wander into the Apple store where the Apple staff will see what model it is and instantly replace it with a nice smile.

I really really doubt there will be a recall...... that reaaaally is a last resort.

OK, so I answered my own question, it addresses the issue.

Funny enough, I have an iPhone 4 (the one that doesn't make calls if you hold it on the edge). I have a Mac Pro early 2011 that I have to reset the SMC+PRAM on for trackpad+keyboard issues and external monitor "flickering" issues too (GPU is fine in my model thank lordy), and knackered bluetooth. Issues like these aren't new and I live with. And not just Apple products, I have a Surface Pro 1 that the mini display port is now too loose to use on (I was using it on my TV, no longer). I can't think of much tech I own that hasn't had one issue or another.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming that Apple has error correction within the algorithms for the controller, which would require mapping quite a lot of memory locations. It's conceivable that the algorithm was not tested for such a high number of apps, and as the granularity of the voltage required to read/write the data in TLC is finer than for MLC, there would be the expectation that the error rate would be higher. More data, higher error rate might be causing the problem and updated firmware might very well be a solution with some minor performance penalties
(slower read/write).

The corollary of this is that media data, which is what the bulk of the storage was expected to be filled with, would be fine with a higher error rate. I would imagine that TLC would need improved load leveling and expect that would have already have been optimized.

Bottom line; if in fact some update fixes the bulk of users with issues, it isn't likely that there will be any uptick in problems over normal usage that would affect more than a very small number of users, who could be accommodated with replacement iPhones.

Pure speculation caveat included at no extra charge, for a limited time, where permitted.
 
Bearxor said:
From Mophie's own product page FAQ's:
Click to expand...

Actually that's a 180 they're doing. I had a Mophie since my 4 and then even got one for my 5. The documentation with the case did recommend that you keep it "on" and let the iPhone use the Mophie first.
 
WardC said:
From what I understand, if you have a 128GB iPhone 6+ and you load the thing up with 100 apps or more, the phone starts exhibiting these crash issues. Apparently it only happens if you have a boatload of apps installed on there, and does not occur if you only have 2-3 pages of Apps. This is happening to people that have several hundred Apps installed...
Click to expand...

maybe you are right, I got 328 apps and have had multiple crashes. I'll delete half and see if it helps.
 
I feel this is a software bug. I doubt applel will replace Chips. It's all rumors. I have no problems with my iPhone 6.
 
JohnnyGo said:
My iPhone 6 128Gb is working like a charm. Not a single reboot or crash.:)

If the problem was really widespread we would be having millions of complaints not one or two forum threads with thousands of posts (most likely from a group of hundreds of problematic devices that will get replaced).

Apple has a great warranty / replacement policy. If there are any problems in the future, I am sure I will be able to get a replacement.
Click to expand...

I sugest filling the phone up with data and then report your findings here. I suspect if there is a defect you will see the problem when it is full.
 
First run production issues do happen. It's just unfortunate that Apple (and other companies, I'm sure) seem to be more concerned about secrecy than getting test units out to as many people as they can.
 
I returned my 128GB iPhone 6 plus on the 13th day to Verizon and here's why. Please, I'm not a Apple hater nor am I a Apple fan, these devices to me are nothing but tools and with any tool I want them to be efficient and work smoothly without issues. I've been using the iPhone since 4s and I own a 64GB iPad Air WiFi.

Whether it's a person or device making excuses is a bad sign in a new relationship. First off, hardware, from a practical standpoint iPhone 6/6+ contains some of the biggest design flaws of any iPhone. While everyone is talking about bendgate, my main issue is with the relocation of the power button. I am unable to see the wisdom placing the power button directly opposite of the volume buttons where the opposing force required by Newton's third law would require pressure on both sets of buttons. Then I began looking at hardware designs from other phone makers like NOKIA, MOTOROLA and SAMSUNG. What I noticed is no other phone, besides the iPhone 6/6+ places buttons directly opposite of each other. NOKIA and MOTOROLA has all their buttons on one side. Samsung's latest Note 4 places the power button on the other side but lower than the volume buttons. Apple claims they moved the power button for easier reach? That would be on the top, where it should have remained. Now, putting the phone to sleep and taking screenshots is completely awkward.

Next up is Reachability. This is the part I REALLY don't understand about Apple's new design philosophy. If Reachability was intended to bring the touch screen within thumbs reach, then why are the power button and volume buttons out of reach? Why didn't Apple design the volume and power buttons to be within reach of one hand like in all previous iPhones? On the iPhone 4s and 5s all buttons were within single hand 5 finger reach. Seems like the software and hardware team aren't getting along.

Thirdly, is the stupid protruding camera. Why make the phone thinner and have a protruding camera? Your average iPhone user isn't going to know what sapphire crystal is. The average person is gonna think, "OK, a protruding camera, if I use it without a case whenever I leave it on a table I'm afraid I'll damage the camera lens, let me put a case on it". If people are going to use phone cases anyway making a phone thinner completely defeats the purpose. I'd rather have a thicker phone and have the body flush with the camera with longer battery life and better structural rigidity.

Lastly, software. They released 8.01 only to brick new phones and quickly released 8.02 to fix the problems with 8.01. Not to mention 8.1 still has a TON of issues.

It seems from a hardware and software standpoint, the iPhone 6/6+ is completely untested before releasing to market. Apple knows they'll sell their new iPhone 6 no matter what and even if there are problems with it, people are going to put up with it or forget about their 14 day return policy with their carrier.

I guess I'm one of the few who don't put up with this nonsense. I'm skipping the iPhone 6 and I'll be waiting for the iPhone 6s/7 or whatever they're gonna call the next iPhone. By then iOS 8 should be more stable and mature and hopefully Apple will address the hardware issues. If not I'll have to painfully move away from Apple and give a shot at my first Android phone.

pectin232 said:
How do u know if you are using the problematic TLC NAND chips. Is there a utility to test it. I also noticed in my earlier postings that there seems to be quite a bit of slowdown on the iPhone 6 Plus compared to the regular iPhone 6. My wife one seems snapper than the Plus.. it should be not be so
Click to expand...

OMG, I noticed the exact same thing on my 6 plus! When I go in Application Switcher mode (double tap home button) I feels jerky and not as smooth as the 6 or the 5s. I believe TMay is right, due to the increased amount of pixels on screen, graphics performance took a hit and Apple is saying nothing about it.

Before all iPhones were the same size, this is the first time Apple is offering 2 sizes and with the 6 plus Apple also overlooked the performance issue when you add more pixels on screen. As any gamer knows, when you increase resolution graphics performance takes a hit and unless you increase graphics horsepower to match the increase in pixels what you'll get in return is laggy performance.
 
0pTicaL said:
I returned my 128GB iPhone 6 plus on the 13th day to Verizon and here's why. Please, I'm not a Apple hater nor am I a Apple fan, these devices to me are nothing but tools and with any tool I want them to be efficient and work smoothly without issues. I've been using the iPhone since 4s and I own a 64GB iPad Air WiFi.

Whether it's a person or device making excuses is a bad sign in a new relationship. First off, hardware, from a practical standpoint iPhone 6/6+ contains some of the biggest design flaws of any iPhone. While everyone is talking about bendgate, my main issue is with the relocation of the power button. I am unable to see the wisdom placing the power button directly opposite of the volume buttons where the opposing force required by Newton's third law would require pressure on both sets of buttons. Then I began looking at hardware designs from other phone makers like NOKIA, MOTOROLA and SAMSUNG. What I noticed is no other phone, besides the iPhone 6/6+ places buttons directly opposite of each other. NOKIA and MOTOROLA has all their buttons on one side. Samsung's latest Note 4 places the power button on the other side but lower than the volume buttons. Apple claims they moved the power button for easier reach? That would be on the top, where it should have remained. Now, putting the phone to sleep and taking screenshots is completely awkward.

Next up is Reachability. This is the part I REALLY don't understand about Apple's new design philosophy. If Reachability was intended to bring the touch screen within thumbs reach, then why are the power button and volume buttons out of reach? Why didn't Apple design the volume and power buttons to be within reach of one hand like in all previous iPhones? On the iPhone 4s and 5s all buttons were within single hand 5 finger reach. Seems like the software and hardware team aren't getting along.

Thirdly, is the stupid protruding camera. Why make the phone thinner and have a protruding camera? Your average iPhone user isn't going to know what sapphire crystal is. The average person is gonna think, "OK, a protruding camera, if I use it without a case whenever I leave it on a table I'm afraid I'll damage the camera lens, let me put a case on it". If people are going to use phone cases anyway making a phone thinner completely defeats the purpose. I'd rather have a thicker phone and have the body flush with the camera with longer battery life and better structural rigidity.

Lastly, software. They released 8.01 only to brick new phones and quickly released 8.02 to fix the problems with 8.01. Not to mention 8.1 still has a TON of issues.

It seems from a hardware and software standpoint, the iPhone 6/6+ is completely untested before releasing to market. Apple knows they'll sell their new iPhone 6 no matter what and even if there are problems with it, people are going to put up with it or forget about their 14 day return policy with their carrier.

I guess I'm one of the few who don't put up with this nonsense. I'm skipping the iPhone 6 and I'll be waiting for the iPhone 6s/7 or whatever they're gonna call the next iPhone. By then iOS 8 should be more stable and mature and hopefully Apple will address the hardware issues. If not I'll have to painfully move away from Apple and give a shot at my first Android phone.



OMG, I noticed the exact same thing on my 6 plus! When I go in Application Switcher mode (double tap home button) I feels jerky and not as smooth as the 6 or the 5s. I believe TMay is right, due to the increased amount of pixels on screen, graphics performance took a hit and Apple is saying nothing about it.

Before all iPhones were the same size, this is the first time Apple is offering 2 sizes and with the 6 plus Apple also overlooked the performance issue when you add more pixels on screen. As any gamer knows, when you increase resolution graphics performance takes a hit and unless you increase graphics horsepower to match the increase in pixels what you'll get in return is laggy performance.
Click to expand...

Oh, come on, you ARE a hater; mainly ranting about trifles on your FIRST POST. Every single release there is an issue. The antenna karfuffle was a much bigger deal than any of this. There have been software updates which made phones much slower (and the battery drain) than any of the recent ones; its a complaint in every single update btw.

10K people got 8.01 and it got fixed the next day, are you one of them? No issue with the button, little issue in software. There's only 1 square inch of the phone I can't reach with on the 6+, let alone the 6, just had to change the grip a little. The camera has to protude because of physics and sensor size. The only way to put a camera as good as this one in a phone thin like that. Every competing Android phone with a sensor as large and thicker also has a protuding camera.

You do realize they've proabably sold 40M phones the first month, how many had major issues? Apple actually swaps your phone if you have any problem, does Samsung do that?

Even this issue with the Nand doesn't seem to be widespread at all or we would have heard a lot more about it.
 
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hybroid said:
No crashing or boot issues with 128GB 6 Plus here. Not had a single glitch.
Click to expand...


Same here. This is clearly an issue that only affects some phones. The whole thing sounds like no more than rumor anyway. And this forum is after all MacRumors..so one must take it with a grain or perhaps the whole shaker of salt.

----------
Rad99004 said:
I sugest filling the phone up with data and then report your findings here. I suspect if there is a defect you will see the problem when it is full.
Click to expand...


My phone is a bit more than half filled with apps and data. Filling it all the way to the max is never good and will cause problems no matter what, chip defect or not.

----------
teepzo said:
Its a RUMOUR



Here's my RUMOUR.



1. Samsung Sales are down - FACT

2. Samsung Executives told - do anything to fix sales NOW

3. Executives cant copy iPhone6 yet

4. Brainwave - kill off iPhone6 sales - if sales dont come to Samsung, then at least they can go to CEO and say sales are down for all companies.

5. Seed a Korean Subservient publication with rumour

6. Increase Blogger bonus and introduce incentives for Trolls

7. Retire to local Hof and toast success....:D
Click to expand...


It could be that since Bendgate was debunked by Consumer Reports, the competition is resorting to a new tactic to discourage people from buying the iPhone 6.
 
Keirasplace said:
Oh, come on, you ARE a hater; mainly ranting about trifles on your FIRST POST. Every single release there is an issue. The antenna karfuffle was a much bigger deal than any of this. There have been software updates which made phones much slower (and the battery drain) than any of the recent ones; its a complaint in every single update btw.

10K people got 8.01 and it got fixed the next day, are you one of them? No issue with the button, little issue in software. There's only 1 square inch of the phone I can't reach with on the 6+, let alone the 6, just had to change the grip a little. The camera has to protude because of physics and sensor size. The only way to put a camera as good as this one in a phone thin like that. Every competing Android phone with a sensor as large and thicker also has a protuding camera.

You do realize they've proabably sold 40M phones the first month, how many had major issues? Apple actually swaps your phone if you have any problem, does Samsung do that?

Even this issue with the Nand doesn't seem to be widespread at all or we would have heard a lot more about it.
Click to expand...

If I was a Apple hater why would I pay the full price of $1033.11 on a 128GB iPhone 6 plus in the first place? Your attempt to label me as a hater is moot. I never had major issues with the 4s or 5s. People generally don't go on forums to praise but only when there's a problem.

The 6/6+ is a major shift from all previous iPhones. Even Jobs said he saw no need for a bigger phone, he may have been wrong in today's environment, but to completely abandon the 4 inch screen size, I think, is a mistake.

Apple seems to have given in to market forces going with a bigger phone without giving much thought into functionality.

On the 6 plus, you can't reach all buttons with one hand like in previous iPhones. It can be designed to be reachable (power, home, volume) with one hand but obviously Apple's hardware team did not have that in mind.

Just because there are issues with every new release doesn't mean that practice is acceptable.
 
0pTicaL said:
If I was a Apple hater why would I pay the full price of $1033.11 on a 128GB iPhone 6 plus in the first place? Your attempt to label me as a hater is moot. I never had major issues with the 4s or 5s. People generally don't go on forums to praise but only when there's a problem.

The 6/6+ is a major shift from all previous iPhones. Even Jobs said he saw no need for a bigger phone, he may have been wrong in today's environment, but to completely abandon the 4 inch screen size, I think, is a mistake.

Apple seems to have given in to market forces going with a bigger phone without giving much thought into functionality.

On the 6 plus, you can't reach all buttons with one hand like in previous iPhones. It can be designed to be reachable (power, home, volume) with one hand but obviously Apple's hardware team did not have that in mind.

Just because there are issues with every new release doesn't mean that practice is acceptable.
Click to expand...

I can understand that point, for you; I'm OK with it. But otherwise the rest of your post was just a rant picking nits.

One of the reason many people are OK with it is the fact that phones are larger is that smartphones are less and less used as phones. Use case changes and thus screen size changes. I still think Apple should ideally have a smaller phone availble with the latest tech next time though.

Also, when apps get updated for a larger screen eventually, they'll take into account that the upper left is less accessible and put rarely accessed buttons there (or maybe just status) and possibly put frequently used buttons at the bottom of the screen.

Initially, the Iphone was mostly a phone and as such a smaller device makes sense to this most frequent use, but voice use is falling like a brick and thus other uses must also be taken into account in the UI and hardware. I can still dial and use the phone with one hand by the way and I don't have monster hands ;-).
 
iPhone 6 128GB here, crashes regularly on the Music app only...

I'm on my second iPhone 6 -- the first one had screen uniformity issues where the center was darker than the top and bottom -- and thought I was on my way to a third on a recent trip to the Apple Store. I don't have a ton of apps, and only about 4,100 songs on my phone -- it's only about half full. Yet, with iOS 8.02 I was seeing my phone reboot about twice a day, while listening to music on the phone with the Music app (i.e. the built-in Apple app for playing your iTunes and other loaded music).

When I got to the store, the Genius who looked at it took it to the back and ran diagnostics. He reported back to me that the Music app was "running out of memory" on the phone, and that it was likely a software issue. He recommended waiting for iOS 8.1 to see if it fixed anything. He also recommended Reset(ting) All Settings to make the problem go away. I followed both pieces of advice, and the iPhone is still crashing on occasion while playing music.

Now, I understand it being a software issue and hope that 8.1.1 fixes it. If it is, indeed, a hardware issue then I hope Apple will replace affected phones. We'll see.

BTW, for those who mentioned sluggishness on the iPhone 6 Plus compared to the iPhone 6 -- read the "iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus: Preliminary Results" article they did over at Anandtech. They called this in the first few days of the release: the Plus has more pixels but the same processor/GPU. As a result, it has to work harder to push the same information on the screen and there are some performance lags. Maybe they can improve this over time through software updates and an improved rendering system for the specific resolution of the 6 Plus, but until then there will be some minor trade-offs. (I personally would love to see the A8X make its way to the iPhones and iPad Mini, too, but I digress...)
 
What a joke, now what if the phones fails after the first year of guarantee?
Can I replace it now to be sur? How do I know I won’t get a lemon?
 
This rumor is false!

Dear all,

This rumor is false, read below;

Source: http://www.maclife.com/article/news/morning_report_tlc_nixed_iphone_6_pixelmator_mac_33_amazon_echo

[Update: This rumor appears to be false. A source close to Apple tells us there is no defect in the components from Anobit, and that Apple has no plans to drop triple-cell NAND flash storage. How do crazy rumors like this get started? Well, our source claims that BusinessKorea, which published the original story, has ties to Samsung. Yikes.]


Regards.
 
macrumors-user said:
Dear all,

This rumor is false, read below;

Source: http://www.maclife.com/article/news/morning_report_tlc_nixed_iphone_6_pixelmator_mac_33_amazon_echo

[Update: This rumor appears to be false. A source close to Apple tells us there is no defect in the components from Anobit, and that Apple has no plans to drop triple-cell NAND flash storage. How do crazy rumors like this get started? Well, our source claims that BusinessKorea, which published the original story, has ties to Samsung. Yikes.]

Regards.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I was trying to figure out if I should wait to buy a 128GB or what. May wait a few weeks for this all to die down, I guess. It's hard to know who to believe.
 
macrumors-user said:
Dear all,



This rumor is false, read below;



Source: http://www.maclife.com/article/news/morning_report_tlc_nixed_iphone_6_pixelmator_mac_33_amazon_echo



[Update: This rumor appears to be false. A source close to Apple tells us there is no defect in the components from Anobit, and that Apple has no plans to drop triple-cell NAND flash storage. How do crazy rumors like this get started? Well, our source claims that BusinessKorea, which published the original story, has ties to Samsung. Yikes.]





Regards.
Click to expand...


That's what I figured. Apple's competitors failed with "bendgate" so they tried to find another supposed design flaw.

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Gizmotoy said:
Interesting. I was trying to figure out if I should wait to buy a 128GB or what. May wait a few weeks for this all to die down, I guess. It's hard to know who to believe.
Click to expand...


Go for it. I have the 128gb plus and it's been fine for more than a month now.
 
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