14 DAY TRIAL // It is being reported that Apple is buying a lot of NAND flash supplies for a next-gen handset. AppleInsider has spotted a report issued on the flash RAM market, indicating that Apple is inhaling supplies of memory components in preparation for the next generation iPhone. The move has allegedly caused part shortages and raised the spot price for memory.
Generally, Apple buys its memory components from Samsung, Hynix, Toshiba, and Micron. A ThinkEquity Partners report also mentions SanDisk as Apple's choice, this time around. According to the AppleInsider report, Apple has bought out Samsung's entire available supply, putting the world's largest producer of flash memory on allocation until April 2009. Samsung is said to be producing 40 percent of the world's entire supply of NAND Flash RAM.
The original source also points out that Hynix and Toshiba are likely "under NAND supply constraints as Apple ramps NAND demand for its next-generation iPhones." It is worth noting, though, that both companies are facing technical difficulties, resulting in less production that might force Apple to look elsewhere.
Also note-worthy is that Apple, who sells tens of millions of NAND Flash-enabled devices each year, can afford the luxury of picking components at prices that competitors can't match. In fact, Apple's last several quarters have been highly profitable thanks, in part, to favorable component pricing.
However, even for Apple, “finding enough flash RAM supply may become more difficult as [it] continues to eats [sic] up an increasing volume of the world's supply of memory parts, even as the global economy cools and production is cut back,” the report concludes.
Apple is widely believed to be introducing a new-generation iPhone model, with several sources leaking pictures of what looks to be the case of the upcoming device. The company is expected to be refreshing its line of desktop computers as well, with most rumors focusing on everyone's favorite all-in-one system - the iMac.