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Wccftech reports that Micron plans to "introduce" NAND with 8 bits (1 byte) per cell:
Back in May of 2018, Micron introduced Quad-Level (QLC) NAND tech and, surprisingly, saw their stock tumble to pricing levels of ~$30 down from ~$60. This was the result of complex NAND pricing and supply/demand factors, not just the introduction of QLC, to be clear. I have just confirmed from multiple sources and stakeholders that Micron is intending to introduce their Octa-Level (OLC) NAND either in Q1 or latest by Q2 2019.
OLC NAND would have 28 (256) states and 28-1 (255) threshold voltages, compared to just 16 states for today's QLC NAND.
3D QLC NAND SSDs arrived on the market in 2018. QLC NAND has lower write endurance, estimated at 1,000 program/erase (PE) cycles, compared to 3,000 P/E cycles for triple-level cell (TLC) NAND, 10,000 P/E cycles for multi-level cell (MLC) NAND, and 100,000 P/E cycles for single-level cell NAND. This exceeds previous expectations of 1,000 P/E cycles for TLC NAND and 100 cycles for QLC NAND. Intel's SSD 660p drives using QLC NAND are rated for only about 0.1 drive writes per day for 5 years, or about 200 TB written on a 1 TB drive. Data retention is also reduced.
In 2013, it was reported that the U.S. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) funded Crocus Technology development of 8-bits-per-cell Magnetic Logic Unit (MLU) memory, which would use two 4-bit layers:
Douglas Lee, VP for system strategy and corporate product development at Crocus, pointed out NAND and MRAM bits-per-cell limitations: "The current semiconductor non-volatile memory state-of-the-art is 3-4 bits per cell, as achieved in NAND flash memory, and is reaching the physical limits of floating gate memory technology. The current state-of-the-art in MRAM is only 1 bit per cell storage."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @09:01PM (5 children)
It doesn't matter because by the time Apple's done with it we'll still be paying $400 for 512 GB.
Cheaper technology just means higher margins.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday February 09 2019, @09:09PM (4 children)
Well, if you're buying an SSD for your desktop, you can get 1 TB for about $100.
If you're buying an iPhone, that's your own fault.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @09:14PM (1 child)
That price applies to iMac and Mac Mini. It's cheaper on the iPhone, oddly enough.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday February 09 2019, @09:23PM
*normal, user-upgradeable desktop
This is like a masochist complaining about the pain (caused by running into the garden wall).
Given the sales [businessinsider.com] decline [nytimes.com], maybe the next iPhone will add revolutionary new features such as a user-replaceable battery and microSD card slot.
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(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Sunday February 10 2019, @03:41AM (1 child)
And how long will it work, considering it can be rewritten only about 1000 times?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday February 10 2019, @04:21AM
1000 cycles is fine for most home users and even many business users.
Intel 660p has a 5 year warranty, and has a stated endurance of 0.1 DWPD, 200 TB written. Same as Crucial P1. Samsung 860 QVO has a 3 year warranty, with an endurance at 0.3 DWPD / 360 TB.
If you wanted to kill the drive fast, you could probably come up with a way to do it. But it would probably be a convoluted scenario.
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