Apple Expected to Adopt Technology That May Pave Way for 2TB iPhones
Taiwanese research firm TrendForce this week said it anticipates that Apple will begin releasing iPhones with quad-level cell (QLC) storage by 2026. This technology could pave the way for iPhones with 2TB of storage in the future.
QLC is a denser storage technology compared to the triple-level cell (TLC) technology used for storage chips in existing iPhones, and this would allow for higher storage capacity within the same physical footprint. In addition, QLC storage is typically less expensive than TLC in terms of price per gigabyte. However, one downside is that QLC storage typically offers slower read and write speeds compared to TLC storage.
The density and cost advantages of QLC could pave the way for Apple to release a 2TB storage capacity for future iPhones. TrendForce's estimate that Apple will adopt the technology by 2026 means that it could be incorporated into iPhones starting with iPhone 16 models, iPhone 17 models, or iPhone 18 models, so there is still no exact timeframe for this change. A report from supply chain publication DigiTimes earlier this year claimed that Apple was evaluating QLC for 1TB models of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, so the technology could end up being used for both 1TB and 2TB storage capacities.
Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 16 series in September, so we are only a few months away from finding out whether a 2TB storage capacity and QLC storage technology are introduced this year or further into the future.
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