100 million units
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.