To save costs and expand storage space for iPhone 16, Apple can use QLC NAND flash memory despite the disadvantage of being slower and inferior.
According to DigiTimes, Apple is said to have begun providing its own QLC (Quad Level Cell) NAND memory chips for their next generation of smartphones to provide large storage capacity (from 1 TB or more) for some iPhones. 16 at a more accessible price than before. This could be beneficial to encourage a large number of users to be willing to switch to iPhone 16.
However, the solution using QLC NAND memory also brings some disadvantages related to QLC technology and its technical limitations. As Wccftech points out, QLC memory has the disadvantage of being less resilient than TLC memory, leading to less reliability in the long run. It has a lower number of read cycles than the competition as well as a lower transfer rate. If the iPhone 16 is equipped with QLC memory, at least partially, this could make them a bit slower than an iPhone 15 with equivalent storage.
The advantage of QLC technology is that it allows the use of 4 bits of data per memory cell instead of 3, so on a chip format similar to TLC memory, QLC technology can provide more storage capacity when production costs are less expensive. However, despite this dual limitation, many other manufacturers have regularly applied QLC technology to enhance the storage space on their devices.
One thing to note is that Apple was rumored to use QLC memory for iPhone 14 in 2022, but because this product line is limited to a maximum of 1 TB of storage capacity, Apple stopped this conversion plan. The same thing happened last year. But with the iPhone 16, they may be the first iPhone series to have over 1 TB of internal memory thanks to the application of QLC memory technology.
