Apple has ordered 100 million units of 8-gigabit and 16-gigabit NAND flash chips from its iPhone chip supplier, Samsung.

According to a research report penned by Lazard Capital Markets  the order implies that Apple is going to make a 32-gigabyte iPhonin June. An order of 100 million 16-gigabit chips creates 12 million of Apple's 16GB iPhones, far more than the 7 million iPhones Wall Street expects Apple to make in the second quarter. But the same order of 100 million chips could produce roughly 6 million Apple 32GB iPhones, which is about right.

Word on the street is that Apple was expected to begin production on a 32GB iPhone in April and May, with a release in early June. The Lazard report said that while the sizable NAND order could be used to dramatically increase production on the 16GB iPhones, that scenario is unlikely, given that Apple appears to be searching for ways to reduce inventory of the 16GB iPhones through special promotions and discounts.

Another use for that flash memory could be used in a refresh of Apple's iMacs, but Lazard points ot that the NAND order was made with Samsung, Apple's main iPhone chip supplier.