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Apple SSD Supplier Hit With Contamination Disaster, Flash Storage Prices Expected to Spike
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Go to any OEM and upgrade the SSD (or RAM). I’m his is where ALL the OEM’s markup. Lenovo wants $300+ for 32GB of RAM.
did you read it, like fully? Apple purchases from Samsung now. But think it through! If WD can't produce, can you see how WD customers will go to Samsung? And can you see how this will affect apple, even if it wasn't samsung's production problem initially.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Inflation is most easily defeated when consumers- as a group- decide the money is worth more than whatever is being sold. When the group decides to NOT BUY, price-hikes halt and then begin coming down in search of a level where consumers decide to again trade their cash for the stuff being sold.
As is, price hikes- for any reason (logical or not)- seem to be met with consumers choosing to just pay up... thus illustrating that they do not value the money more than whatever they want to buy. This rewards sellers for trying to get more and more and more for whatever they sell.
Inflation rarely eases under this condition. It doesn't even need logical-sounding excuses. Sellers want to maximize profits. Traditional buyers want to maximize value (often by buying something that seems like a legit bargain). For the last decade+, consumers seem to have lost their self-control, opting to "just pay" whatever higher price is sought by sellers of non-essentials vs. scoffing at price increases and proving that their money is worth more than that.
True essentials fundamental to basic survival can require "just paying." Everything else- including all tech goodies- are rarely essential. If consumers as a group wake up and use their core power in capitalism, rampant inflation can quickly be tamed... and prices then pushed downward. Until then, expect higher and higher prices for any reasons... or no reasons... and sellers reporting "record revenues and profits" in spite of all of the global calamities spun to help rationalize higher prices.
As is, price hikes- for any reason (logical or not)- seem to be met with consumers choosing to just pay up... thus illustrating that they do not value the money more than whatever they want to buy. This rewards sellers for trying to get more and more and more for whatever they sell.
Inflation rarely eases under this condition. It doesn't even need logical-sounding excuses. Sellers want to maximize profits. Traditional buyers want to maximize value (often by buying something that seems like a legit bargain). For the last decade+, consumers seem to have lost their self-control, opting to "just pay" whatever higher price is sought by sellers of non-essentials vs. scoffing at price increases and proving that their money is worth more than that.
True essentials fundamental to basic survival can require "just paying." Everything else- including all tech goodies- are rarely essential. If consumers as a group wake up and use their core power in capitalism, rampant inflation can quickly be tamed... and prices then pushed downward. Until then, expect higher and higher prices for any reasons... or no reasons... and sellers reporting "record revenues and profits" in spite of all of the global calamities spun to help rationalize higher prices.
How could that much NAND be contaminated without knowing? Where was the quality control?
Kioxia's statement says the issue impacts the production of its 3D BiCS flash, a product used in a wide range of SSDs and other products, but 2D flash production is not impacted. The company hopes for an "early recovery to normal operation," indicating that production has been halted. However, Kioxia did not indicate how much of its production capacity has been impacted.
Western Digital's statement provides a bit more detail, saying that the issue will reduce its production by "at least" 6.5 exabytes. Unfortunately, neither company has given a firm timeline of when production will be fully restored. However, given the long cycle times for 3D NAND flash (it can take two to three months to manufacture a 3D flash chip), any disruption will still have an impact for several months after production restarts.
Western Digital's statement provides a bit more detail, saying that the issue will reduce its production by "at least" 6.5 exabytes. Unfortunately, neither company has given a firm timeline of when production will be fully restored. However, given the long cycle times for 3D NAND flash (it can take two to three months to manufacture a 3D flash chip), any disruption will still have an impact for several months after production restarts.
I have hard time to understand what's sort of contamination. So, my conclusion, it's a fake news, and after sometime, nobody would remember roots, but everyone would be aware that prices were "justified"
wafers go through 100s of process steps, there are controls along the way but when this stuff happens at one step, it doesn't necessarily show right away ... and QC did catch this, that's why the contaminated wafers were pulled out of production. Those wafers will be scrapped ...
Worse, Apple prices are going even higher!! The next 14" and 16" Macs will upgrade storage from 128 GB to 512 GB for $1000. Or $2,000 to go to 1 TB.
Have you seen the lifespan of even TLC NAND? Based on my current usage I’ll wear out the SSD in about 50 or so years.
People grossly underestimate the lifespan of SSD’s. You’re going to replace the computer long before the SSD wears out unless you are absolutely hammering the SSD with writes to an unreasonable degree. I’ve yet to have an SSD fail or have a bad sector, yet I have a box of broken hard drives cough Seagate cough.
At this level of contamination and based on one other report I have seen it seems to be be chemical contamination during fabrication of the chips. Probably a contaminated input material ( e.g. process gas) or a new process recipe for fabrication that was not working as expected (less probably). This is different from an unexpected power loss. How long the contamination has been happening and is there any questionable material that has made it to finished goods is the big question.
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I did a back of the envelope calculation and came up with ~51 million x 1 Terabit (128 GigaByte) 3D-NAND chips or about 6.4 Million x 1 Tera byte SSD drives worth about $2.5B at street value (based on the amazon price of $400 for a 1 Tera Byte drive)
I don’t see a concrete source, but it seems they were rumored to have transitioned from TLC NAND to MLC NAND for the iPhone 6. I’m not interested enough to invest more than a minute or two Googling the subject, but that’s what I found.
Most of them won't wear out in the useful life of a Mac.
My previous 2012 MacBook Pro with SSD is still in use without any problems.
Yep. That's how big business operates. That's why gas prices increase after oil spills. In the end it's the customers that usually 'foot the bill'.
1. There was "AFAIK" before the whole post, I deleted it, should've left it in.
2. Apple used MLC for a long time, why go back to inferior TLC or QLC.
3. Apple's SSD prices are high for a reason, using MLC is that reason imho.
I will update this post if I find a source.
Prices for Apple’s SSD upgrades are already astronomical!