40m iPhone shipments to squeeze NAND flash

The next iPhone will trigger another memory shortage, DRAMeXchange estimated today. It expects Apple to ship 40 million iPhones this year, a major leap from 25 million a year ago, and that this will risk a shortage by using as much as 9 percent of all NAND flash memory. Part of this would come from a 64GB iPhone, expected given Apple's tendency to double capacity every year.

iPads are also poised to compound the situation, as the researchers believe Apple will ship 7-8 million of the tablets this year and make up 3 percent of all flash use.

Flash memory shortages have been common as a result of Apple, as it's widely regarded as the single largest consumer of flash memory in the world. It's often the top customer of companies like Samsung as all iPhones and iPads, and most iPods, have large amounts of storage built-in. Most electronics makers often leave handheld storage to removable cards.

By Electronista Staff