New estimates on Apple's consumption of DRAM for mobile phones and chips to be used in the iPhone 6 line alongside the Apple Watch will continue to keep demand at high levels, two different sources report in various trade publications. One analyst believes that by this time next year, Apple will require some
25 percent of the world's output of DRAM chips, continuing to constrain supplies for competitors. The company is also said to have ordered up to
250 million chips for its iPhone 6 line and Apple Watch across the next year.
Apple's appetite for mobile DRAM is on such a scale that one theory about why the iPhone 6 models ship with only 1GB of RAM rather than the previous-expected 2GB is because of extremely limited supply, which is allegedly needed for the forthcoming iPad refresh. The fact that the latest iPhone carries the same RAM as earlier models hasn't been seen to hurt it in either performance or graphics tests among the top flagship smartphones, however. The iPhone 6 handily surpasses Samsung's Galaxy S5 and the HTC One (M8), both of which have at least double the amount of RAM and processor cores, in performance tests, and beat a cadre of top smartphones in a recent graphics performance shootout as well.
Avril Wu, the assistant vice president for DRAMeXchange, said that Apple's demand for DRAM will grow to 25 percent next year from its present 16.5 percent share. "Since Apple is already a major player in the mobile DRAM market, PC DRAM manufacturers will switch to mobile DRAM to meet the company's demands," he said. "This has indirectly caused supply shortages in the PC DRAM and server DRAM sectors."
The Taiwanese trade site
DigiTimes, meanwhile, is reporting that Apple has asked chipset makers in the industry for up to 250 million units through the next fiscal year, covering its needs for both the iPhone 6 smartphones as well as Apple Watch. Some 30-40 million of the chips are thought to be for Apple Watch, leaving up to 200 million chips intended for the iPhone 6 line. Apple is expected to sell between 50 million and 60 million units in the debut quarter alone, putting it on track to sell 180 million or more units during the rest of the fiscal year. Apple sold 150 million iPhones in fiscal 2013.
The strong demand is likely to force competitors to wait for chips, particularly from leading supplier TSMC, which currently reports wafer shipments at 12-15 weeks. The sources for the
DigiTimes report say that the long lead time will likely continue for the foreseeable future.
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