Regardless of how to reduce the specification, it is stable.
It has been reported by international media that the high-capacity versions of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max may have changed the type of internal memory from the original TLC NAND to QLC NAND in some models, especially the 1TB and 2TB models, which, if true, could be seen as a hardware reduction despite the increase in capacity.
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According to the data released, the 256GB and 512GB versions of the iPhone 18 Pro will still use the same TLC NAND from manufacturers like SK hynix, Kioxia and SanDisk, but the 1TB version may start switching to SK hynix's QLC NAND primarily. The 2TB version has news that it may use all QLC NAND.
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The key point is that TLC and QLC are types of NAND Flash with different storage structures. TLC holds 3 bits per cell. It is a very popular format because it balances speed, durability and cost. QLC holds 4 bits per cell, making it more dense, easier to produce a lot of capacity, and lower cost. But the trade-off is that data writing speed and overall durability are often inferior to TLC.
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So if you ask, "Reduce specs, right?" the answer is that NAND kind of reduces real specs, because QLC is classified as more capacity and cost-oriented than performance-oriented, but it does not mean that all users feel that the machine is slowing down, because the iPhone also has memory management, Controller, and Cache systems that reduce the impact on general use.
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The group that may see the most difference is people who buy 1TB or 2TB versions to use heavy use, such as shooting ProRes videos, shooting high-resolution files continuously, moving large files, or using heavy data writing for a long time, because this kind of work has the opportunity to make QLC show more speed and stability constraints than normal use.
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The reason why Apple may choose this way is thought to be related to higher parts costs, especially NAND Flash, affected by demand in the AI and Data Center markets, increasing memory costs across the industry. Switching to QLC in high-capacity models may be a way to control costs while making it easier for iPhones to have 2TB capacity models.
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However, this news is still only a rumor from the supply chain. There has been no confirmation from Apple, and news of this nature has happened before during the iPhone 16 Pro, but the version that actually went on sale was not changed to QLC, according to the rumor, so wait to see more information before the actual launch.
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Source: HKEPC, appleinsider




























































































