“In contrast to the huge procurement of NAND flash the company made in 2007, Apple seems to not have started making big procurements in 2008,” Josephine Lien and Esther Lam report for DigiTimes.
“While memory makers are worrying about the consumption level of Apple, mainstream NAND flash prices are already priced below cost, according to sources at Taiwan memory makers,” Lien and Lam report.
“The sources estimated that Apple procured about US$1.2-1.3 billion worth of NAND flash in 2007, with Intel, Hynix Semiconductor, Micron Technology and Samsung Electronics all being major suppliers. Apple’s concentration of its procurement within several months last year resulted in a more rapid price fluctuation in NAND flash, the sources noted,” Lien and Lam report.
More in the full article here.
cuz they’re buying SSDs for everything this year??!? that would be something…..
Are the going with Intel’s new memory and not buying from other companies?
Maybe Apple are waiting till some of the flash manufacturers are nearly broke so it’ll be easier to buy ’em out?
I hope they are wrong and it’s not true…
Nothing to see here.
Last year they weren’t sure what would happen with supply and price, so they locked in early. This year they are more confident that they will be able to but at good (probably declining) prices throughout the year, so they don’t have to buy early.
Although they will be completely f***ed when that new NAND based ZunePhone comes out and becomes the next big thing. Or maybe not.
@silverhawk
You do make a good point there. Though im not sure how long they will decide to wait for that. But hey if they can get it for similar cost or cheaper with intel then why not go with them. Easier to order memory and chips from one place then go around.
If Apple would buy a NAND factory, Apple would become totally depending on that particular technology!
Things are going too fast, better evolve and always take the best new techs to be around (and let others to take the risks of bankruptcy).
@critic
HAHAHAH go zunephone… not
I wonder when ZuneTang will make his “steve ballmer like”comment on that
It’s ZuneFone to us insiders.
If it’s so cheap, bump those iPhones up to 16 & 32 GB like the touch. I’ll buy one tomorrow.
So Apple is quietly buying stock at below cost, This wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done that..
Hard Drives are dead. To hell with moving parts. By 2011, they’ll come down in price very rapidly. We’ll all live 2TB SSD in our macbooks and the world will be a better place (less energy consumption).
Now, I can wait for holographic storage to take off. Data on any holographic storage medium will literally last forever unlike stuff on flash.
Wouldn’t this CONTRADICT that NPC report that stated Apple “SLASHED” its orders for NAND flash this year?
There are two sentences that are key in this Digitimes report, they are:
In contrast to the huge procurement of NAND flash the company made in 2007, Apple seems to not have started making big procurements in 2008. … Apple’s concentration of its procurement within several months last year resulted in a more rapid price fluctuation in NAND flash, the sources noted.”
If you read carefully, you’ll see they state that Apple has not made any “big” orders yet in 2008. Note that they use the wishy-washy word “seems”, so it’s not fact.
Second, note that this is not unusual. Apple concentrated its orders “within several months last year”. So, Apple doesn’t make regular and steady orders, but concentrates them into a few months, like in the Summer, when it knows what new products it is releasing in the Fall?
Okay, I looked in the archives. It was a stupid iSuppli report back on Feb 22nd, that stated that Apple had “slashed” its order predictions for 2008.
The market is reportedly flooded with flash ram, so Apple probably can reduce its inventory with the knowledge that prices will not go up significantly.
Apple needed to secure large part of the flash market to meet their needs. Now the market has caught up, there is no need for this anymore.
Good news for us. Bad news for the chip makers.
Still the SSD will provide the new latest thing. High demand, low supply and high prices for the first 2 years.
I’m looking forward to 1 TB SSD drive. Actually I really want stackable units so that as you need more space you just plug in another one.