Analysis looks at the potential advantages behind Apple’s latest acquisition

Dec 23, 2011 19:31 GMT  ·  By

Apple’s $500 million acquisition of NAND Flash designer Anobit will translate into a number of key improvements for the next generation of iPhones, including increased storage capacity, faster access of music and video, a slimmer design, and perhaps even a slimmer price tag.

All this according to an analysis by InventHelp, whose technology publication churned up a piece that looks at five key improvements that we can expect to see in the iPhone 5, thanks to Apple’s acquisition of Israeli tech firm, Anobit.

The first bullet point is battery life. This will be improved, says InventHelp, mostly because “Anobit’s core speciality is increasing multi-level flash cell performance [and] both single-level and multi-level flash memory are efficient compared to DRAM storage which requires constant power.”

Storage capacity will be improved because Anobit also specializes in Memory Signal Processing, “which makes flash memory more reliable and efficient.”

And it’s not only the next iPhone that will benefit from the extra oomph, but also devices like the MacBook Air.

The Anobit acquisition is likely to yield a slimmer form factor as well. It is not specified how exactly, but improved Flash storage will most likely allow for better space preservation around the chassis.

InventHelp also opines that “Apple did not update the design of the iPhone 4S probably because it is working on flash technology that would allow for a reliable slim iPhone 5.”

Finally, the next iPhone may also be cheaper to produce, again, thanks to the new technologies stemming from Anobit.

While that may not translate into a lower retail price, Apple’s bill of materials may be reduced by a few percentage points, because it has NAND Flash technology which it doesn’t have to share “with the onslaught of Android competition.”