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Samsung Will Supply NAND Flash Chips for 2017 iPhones to Ease Shortage

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Apple's upcoming range of new iPhones could be hit by a 30 percent shortage in the supply of storage capacity chips, according to a new report by DigiTimes on Thursday.

The article claims that both SK Hynix and Toshiba have suffered from lower-than-expected yield rates for their 3D NAND flash chips, resulting in fewer supplies available for Apple's 2017 series of iPhones. Apple is said to have called on Samsung in an effort to secure more.
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Apple has turned to Samsung for more NAND chip supplies for its upcoming phones, since Samsung has relatively stable yield rates for 3D NAND technology and has scaled up its output of 3D NAND chips, the sources indicated.
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Apple began using non-volatile 3D NAND chips in its mobile devices last year because of the technology's ability to pack more storage space into equivalent dimensions compared to previous flash memory. However production of the chips is a more delicate process, and it looks as if Apple's priority suppliers haven't been able to increase their yield sufficiently to provide for the devices the company is planning to launch in 2017.

Apple's reliance on Samsung to shore up the supply isn't exactly out of the blue. Back in April of last year it was reported that Samsung would again become an Apple supplier of NAND flash chips, ending a five-year hiatus dating back to the iPhone 5 in 2012.

Apple is expected to announce a "tenth anniversary" OLED iPhone in September alongside more typical "S" cycle updates to its iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. One rumor has suggested the so-called "iPhone 8" will include increased storage space, while two additional rumors say it will be available in 64 and 256GB capacities.


Article Link: Samsung Will Supply NAND Flash Chips for 2017 iPhones to Ease Shortage
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/07/06/apple-samsung-nand-flash-supply-iphones/
fermat-au said:
Apple Fanboys and Fangirls, next time you say "I will never us a Samsung product" maybe think again;)
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This is un-news. Even Apple fans know that Sammy is both a supplier and a competitor. *yawn*

The actually interesting part of this to me is that Apple is feeling a flash memory constraint. When Tim Cook was COO, he was widely admired as probably the finest supply chain guru in tech. He knew, for example, that the iPod Nano would take off and cornered the NAND (I just got the joke: nano/nand! :confused:) market for something like five years. It actually affected competitors bringing product to market. Now Apple's scrambling to get enough. Not sure what it means, but it's interesting how times and fortunes change.
 
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MacDarcy said:
What a strange relationship these two have. Bitter rivals who are constantly suing each other yet also work with each other.
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It’s just business. Apple is obviously trying to move away from Samsung but they aren’t going to shoot themselves in the foot and go with completely inferior tech. Even though they have been doing that in other parts, like those ****** Intel modems.
 
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Business is business. Of course Apple will use Samsung components if they feel it benefits their business. Just as Samsung will sell to Apple if they feel it benefits theirs. Business. It's not a fist fight. It seems simple to me, but I'll refrain from judging those who misunderstand it :)
 
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Can't not have flash memory chips. Something to go along with the displays for iPhone 8 they're getting from Samsung (if memory serves).
 
Kabeyun said:
This is un-news. Even Apple fans know that Sammy is both a supplier and a competitor. *yawn*

The actually interesting part of this to me is that Apple is feeling a flash memory constraint. When Tim Cook was COO, he was widely admired as probably the finest supply chain guru in tech. He knew, for example, that the iPod Nano would take off and cornered the NAND (I just got the joke: nano/nand! :confused:) market for something like five years. It actually affected competitors bringing product to market. Now Apple's scrambling to get enough. Not sure what it means, but it's interesting how times and fortunes change.
Click to expand...
I think Apple's penchant for a conservative approach to adoption of new tech is the reason for the issues here. 3D NAND has been around for a while, but Apple didn't use it in iPhones until last year. Before that they were using planar(2D) NAND. They had, and still have decent 2D NAND supply. 3D NAND is a different animal. Supposedly, it's more difficult to manufacture - especially at higher volume. Sammy's been at that game for a while.

And you're right. Samsung and Apple working together is not news. They've worked together for more than 20 years.
 
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MacDarcy said:
What a strange relationship these two have. Bitter rivals who are constantly suing each other yet also work with each other.
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There hasn't been a suit between Samsung and Apple since early 2012. Before that in 2011, it was essentially 1 lawsuit played out in multiple jurisdictions. I think we often confuse the length of litigation with number of lawsuits.


Stalwart said:
This is what you get when dropping 16Gb tier
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Not sure if serious or jk.
This is what you get when you drop 2D NAND.;) The problem is the type of storage, not amount.
 
2 months from now. We will be comparing speeds of Samsung ram vs Toshiba.
The holy grail iPhone 8.. will be Samsung storage, Samsung OLED screen, and Qualcomm modem chip..
The lesser version will be toshiba ram, LG screen and intel modem chip..
 
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Strelok said:
It’s just business. Apple is obviously trying to move away from Samsung but they aren’t going to shoot themselves in the foot and go with completely inferior tech. Even though they have been doing that in other parts, like those ****** Intel modems.
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That and Samsung components/hardware is well constructed. I don't think Apple would be using Nand Flash Chips and OLED panels from Samsung if they thought it would hinder their quality control.
 
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69Mustang said:
I think Apple's penchant for a conservative approach to adoption of new tech is the reason for the issues here. 3D NAND has been around for a while, but Apple didn't use it in iPhones until last year. Before that they were using planar(2D) NAND. They had, and still have decent 2D NAND supply. 3D NAND is a different animal. Supposedly, it's more difficult to manufacture - especially at higher volume.
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This sounds right. I don't know if this move by Apple represents difficulty obtaining a less plentiful product, or hedging bets by diversifying suppliers. Brobably some of each. We didn't hear much about instances of the former when Cook was running the supply chain, as he was good at foreseeing need and planned accordingly. As to the latter, one thing he did right after Jobs hired him was actually to reduce the number of suppliers, which is core to efficient SC management, but if 3D NAND is hard to come by then I guess it's catch as catch can.
 
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“To ease shortage”? And I thought they were doing that for the money!
 
gigapocket1 said:
2 months from now. We will be comparing speeds of Samsung ram vs Toshiba.
The holy grail iPhone 8.. will be Samsung storage, Samsung OLED screen, and Qualcomm modem chip..
The lesser version will be toshiba ram, LG screen and intel modem chip..
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Lol, ouch!

I’m sorry to have to tell you- this conversation is NOT about RAM.... seems like you misunderstood the component in question.
 
Tycho24 said:
Lol, ouch!

I’m sorry to have to tell you- this conversation is NOT about RAM.... seems like you misunderstood the component in question.
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You're right. It was about storage.. smh. That was an epic fail lol..
To be fair. I had been driving for 8 hours and only had 2 hours of sleep at that point. I'm going to blame it on being tired lol
 
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69Mustang said:
I think Apple's penchant for a conservative approach to adoption of new tech is the reason for the issues here.
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I don't know, 'Stang, but I'd lean towards cost being a major factor.

For years, Apple used some of the cheapest NAND you could get.

And later Apple went cheap on the iPhone 6 trying to use TLC NAND in place of MLC.

So okay, it's effectively the same thing :) not adopting new tech until it's more profitable to use it.
 
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kdarling said:
I don't know, 'Stang, but I'd lean towards cost being a major factor.

For years, Apple used some of the cheapest NAND you could get.

And later Apple went cheap on the iPhone 6 trying to use TLC NAND in place of MLC.

So okay, it's effectively the same thing :) not adopting new tech until it's more profitable to use it.
Click to expand...
That cheap NAND lasts, I'm still using my 2010 iPhone 4.
 
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