Flash-Based 4GB-6GB iPods Coming Soon?
August 17th 2005
Digitimes reports that Taiwanese flash memory manufacturer Etron Technology is ramping up production considerably, based on the likelihood of big future orders from Apple for 4-6GB NAND flash-based iPods.
Apple currently equips its iPod Mini with 4 and 6GB hard drives, but falling SDRAM prices mean Apple could offer flash-based products. It also opens up considerable possibilities for 2GB iPod Shuffles, Apple's only flash-based iPod product line, which currently offers 512MB and 1GB capacities.
Digitimes suggest the roll-out of new iPods could occur in the fourth quarter of this year.
Analysis: Full-sized iPods could be offered in, say, 20/30/40/60 capacities, while Minis could be 10GB. It makes more sense for Apple to go for higher-capacity flash players, unless they can source 4GB flash drives for the Mini a lot more cheaply than the Toshiba hard drive equivalent. But Digitimes has often been too bullish in its predictions, so watch this space.