Growth has reached a bottleneck? Why is the maximum storage capacity of mobile phones limited to 256GB?

Growth has reached a bottleneck? Why is the maximum storage capacity of mobile phones limited to 256GB?
The storage capacity of smartphones is getting bigger and bigger. A long time ago, a mobile phone with 8GB or 16GB was considered top-of-the-line. With the advancement of technology, the speed of software updates is accelerating, and mobile phones have more and more functions, and users' demand for storage capacity is also increasing. Especially in recent years, mobile phone ROM has reached a crazy 256GB (such as iPhone 7 Plus, ZenFone 3 Deluxe, ZenFone 2 Deluxe). Although it is not certain whether there will be higher specifications in the future, it is obvious that 256GB will last for a long time. Why is this the case? 1. Why is the maximum ROM of smartphones only 256GB? Cost limitation Everyone knows that the larger the capacity, the higher the cost. Most of the cost depends on the storage medium (storage particles). Under the same capacity, the price of SLC is significantly higher than that of MLC and TLC, although the increase in capacity may only be a few hundred or a thousand in the specific cost figures. But considering that mobile phones need to be mass-produced, I believe everyone understands the idiom that a pile of sand makes a tower. TLC=Trinary-Level Cell, that is, 3bit per cell, this type of chip has a slow transmission speed, a short lifespan, and a low production cost. MLC=Multi-Level Cell, i.e. 2 bits per cell, this type of chip has average transmission speed and average lifespan. As for SLC=Single-Level Cell, i.e. 1 bit per cell, this type of chip is almost only found in enterprise-level SSDs, with a higher cost, but of course the speed and lifespan are the best among the three.
Three types of storage particles and particle specifications The particle specifications of the more well-known upstream storage particle suppliers such as Samsung, Micron, Hyundai, and Toshiba have not yet exceeded 256GB. Since mobile phones are not as large as computers, suppliers can usually only install one storage particle in a small mobile phone, so the capacity of the mobile phone depends on the specifications of this storage particle.
iPhone 7 nand flash chip internal space limitation The internal space of the mobile phone is very limited. Currently, it is not possible to coexist two storage chips. The early solution was to insert a mobile phone memory card (TF card). However, in order to reduce weight and increase transmission speed, many mobile phones have cancelled the function of expanding the memory card. Fortunately, the internal capacity of mobile phones is relatively large now, and it is not a problem to use them normally for 2~3 years.
TF memory card mobile phone replacement cycle shortened Nowadays, the speed of smart phone replacement is very fast, and many people replace it once a year or even twice a year. CCTV's "Eastern Time" column once conducted a survey, and the results showed that "52% of mobile phone users change their mobile phones within an average of one year." Therefore, for consumers, it is enough to use it, and it is too big to use it all. And manufacturers are closely following the needs of users for design/production. The development of cloud storage in the big environment With the advancement of technology, the speed of the Internet is getting faster and faster, and the current 4G has gradually replaced the previous 3G, and the future 5G is about to come out. The continuous improvement of the Internet speed has derived a new term-cloud storage. As an emerging storage technology, compared with the traditional purchase of storage devices and deployment of storage software, cloud storage has the advantages of low cost, fast results, easy management, and flexible methods. Under the condition of ensuring data security, many users prefer to store data in the cloud, so they do not need too much local storage space.
Cloud Storage 2. New Trends in Future Development: 3D NAND What is 3D NAND? The concept of 3D NAND is not difficult to understand: its principle is simply "stacking". Currently, Intel and Micron have developed a method to stack them up to 32 layers. In this way, up to 32GB of storage space can be added to an MLC flash memory chip, and 48GB can be added to a single TLC flash memory chip. At present, 3D NAND flash memory is an emerging type of flash memory that solves the limitations of 2D or planar NAND flash memory by stacking storage particles together.
3D NAND Advantages of 3D NAND technology The highlight of 3D NAND is that it uses a three-dimensional, vertical stacking method to increase the number of chips contained in a single particle. The increase in the number of stacking layers will eventually lead to an exponential increase in capacity, greatly improving the service life of the product; 3D NAND can provide higher instruction running efficiency, thereby improving the product's operating performance; it simplifies the programming stage and effectively reduces the product's energy consumption during standby and working.
3D NAND At present, Samsung, SK Hynix, Toshiba/SanDisk, Intel/Micron, these major NAND giants have already set foot in 3D NAND flash memory, and the national memory industry base led by Wuhan Xinxin Technology is the first newly built 12-inch wafer factory in China. After it is put into production, it will directly produce 3D NAND flash memory. It can be said that 3D NAND will be a necessary technology to break through the ROM capacity of mobile devices in the future. Summary: Technology is advancing, we can never predict the future, what will the future mobile phones look like? At present, the editor still recommends that you buy 64GB and 128GB mobile phones, which are more appropriate, just enough. Considering the problem of user demand, I believe that there will be no mobile phones with storage specifications exceeding 256GB for a long time.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.

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