iPhone 13 mini Any way to check the NAND type or storage manufacturer?

[Populus]

Hi.

I’m planning to purchase an iPhone 13 mini, with the base storage, 128GB because I don’t really need more than that.

This is going to be a long time purchase, and even when I replace my battery, or the screen if the OLED suffers from burn in after several years, the storage is a piece that I cannot replace, even paying to Apple for that.

So I really want to ensure that the iPhone storage remains snappy for years, and because of that, I wanted to know if there’s any way to know if the drive is made of MLC, TLC or QLC NAND.

This has been an atypical year, when the iPhone used iPad parts because of shortages, and the NAND manufacturer Kioxia and WD were hit by a contamination incident that affected many chips.

So, I really want to get an iPhone with a healthy SSD that stays snappy for many, many years, and I am not sure what to do -aside from buying more storage, which I won’t do because it is expensive and I don’t need it- in order to know if the storage on my iPhone is going to be reliable after many write cycles.

I think serial numbers don’t provide much info nowadays with the new system, so I’m open to any idea.

Thank you

PS: yeah, I’m aware that this thread is a bit tech-paranoid, but I’ve seen worse tbh.

 

[now i see it]

Interesting idea but the real-world implications are unworkable.

Buy a new iPhone and check the nand manufacturer (if that’s even possible) then return it because it’s not the type you want.
Then buy another and check and return, then another and another and another …

A person could buy and return hundreds of iPhones and never get the nand of their liking. If ever.

Worn iPhone SSD isn’t a common problem. Obviously some iPhones must croak early from worn out nand but it’s definitely not an issue. The phone’s usable life will be burned up by iOS updates slowing it down long before the nand wears out.

 

[Populus]

No, I’m not talking about buying and returning and so on. I’m talking about knowing what I’m buying.

I don’t think there are hundreds and hundreds of NAND types. I think there are, at most, 2 or 3 NAND providers (mainly Kioxia), and 1 or 2 NAND types. I only want to know if I’m buying a reliable MLC SSD iPhone, a TLC, or a ****** QLC based iPhone. Maybe this is possible to determine through SSD speed-test. But without external references, I won’t be able to tell.

The phone’s usable life will be burned up by iOS updates slowing it down long before the nand wears out.

And yeah, this is one of my concerns: What if those old iPhones are slow, not only because of the iOS updates, but because the SSD (or NVMe, I don’t care) is getting worn and slow?

 

[KaliYoni]

I’m planning to purchase an iPhone 13 mini, with the base storage, 128GB because I don’t really need more than that.

I think if an iPhone is intended as a multiyear purchase and storage longevity is a priority, I would buy the largest amount of storage I could afford. Why? Because solid state storage only lasts for a finite number of write operations, as mentioned above. This means that larger capacity drives have the potential to last longer because writes are spread over a larger number of cells.

if there’s any way to know if the drive is made of MLC, TLC or QLC NAND.

You might want to contact the developer of iMazing and see what information one of their tools, iMazing CLI, provides. The tool looks like it is able to access a lot of the user-invisible workings of iOS:

iMazing CLI - Command Line Interface

iMazing CLI is the command line version of iMazing, available for both macOS and Windows. Every iMazing feature is available via the CLI, and more.

imazing.com

(I recently installed iMazing on my Mac for its spyware detection feature and it seems to be a very thoughtfully designed application)

 

[Taz Mangus]

Hi.

I’m planning to purchase an iPhone 13 mini, with the base storage, 128GB because I don’t really need more than that.

This is going to be a long time purchase, and even when I replace my battery, or the screen if the OLED suffers from burn in after several years, the storage is a piece that I cannot replace, even paying to Apple for that.

So I really want to ensure that the iPhone storage remains snappy for years, and because of that, I wanted to know if there’s any way to know if the drive is made of MLC, TLC or QLC NAND.

This has been an atypical year, when the iPhone used iPad parts because of shortages, and the NAND manufacturer Kioxia and WD were hit by a contamination incident that affected many chips.

So, I really want to get an iPhone with a healthy SSD that stays snappy for many, many years, and I am not sure what to do -aside from buying more storage, which I won’t do because it is expensive and I don’t need it- in order to know if the storage on my iPhone is going to be reliable after many write cycles.

I think serial numbers don’t provide much info nowadays with the new system, so I’m open to any idea.

Thank you

PS: yeah, I’m aware that this thread is a bit tech-paranoid, but I’ve seen worse tbh.

According to the article below it is thought that the flash memory in the iPhone 13 is Kioxia TLC NAND.

iPhone 14 rumored to offer 2TB of QLC NAND flash memory

Apple is reportedly working with partners to develop a solution that will enable it to increase storage density and this could help it increase the maximum storage capacity to 2TB.

www.phonearena.com

 

[Populus]

According to the article below it is thought that the flash memory in the iPhone 13 is Kioxia TLC NAND.

iPhone 14 rumored to offer 2TB of QLC NAND flash memory

Apple is reportedly working with partners to develop a solution that will enable it to increase storage density and this could help it increase the maximum storage capacity to 2TB.

www.phonearena.com

Thank you very much, Taz. Makes a lot of sense. I guess Apple will increase the capacities once they jump to QLC, to ensure the same level of reads for the entire life of the device.

 

[HDFan]

So I really want to ensure that the iPhone storage remains snappy for years, and because of that, I wanted to know if there’s any way to know if the drive is made of MLC, TLC or QLC NAND.

A quick check didn't show any utilities to show an iPhone's SSD status. I suppose that an SSD could fail due to age, but I don't remember seeing a post anywhere of that happening. Not even once. A google search shows:

How long do iPhone SSDs last?

The average user should see 15 years or more of life from the SSD, even though it's guaranteed for far less.Apr 9, 2021

unsure where this statement comes from as there is no source listed.

As for speed over time your iPhone will appear to slow down. That's not actually happening It is just that software and phone features get more demanding and require much more horsepower than previous versions. Current phones likely have enough unused capacity to handle these updates for quite a few years though, but it depends what apps you use on your phone.

In any event don't worry about it. Your phone will have to be replaced due to battery, OS, new features or something else long before the SSD fails.

 

[Cobold]

With normal usage (and by that, I mean no tech-site running writing and erasing exabytes of data to it), SSDs won't die anytime soon. I still own my iPhone 3G I bought new when it came out in 2008. Besides the battery, it is running like day one!

A litte story about SSDs:
In one of my Linux machines at work, last month a 14 years old Intel SSD (X25-M) "died".
Just out of curiosity, I gave it to a friend, who's really good at soldering and guess what: the SSD cells themselves were all okay! It was a capacitor that died. After replacing it and running a health check, the SSD reported "good" health with over 90% lifespan remaining 🤪

You won't be able to use the iPhone for so long, that you see the SSD dying. Looooong before, other non-replacable components of the logic board will fail, mostly capacitors, microcontrollers, power-ICs or some other of the hundrets of litte ICs of the logic board.

 

[Populus]

In any event don't worry about it. Your phone will have to be replaced due to battery, OS, new features or something else long before the SSD fails

Although you’re right in your whole idea (as is @Cobold ) the battery isn’t an issue. I plan to replace it every time it gets exhausted by the cycles, every time the health falls under 80%. Same with the screen, if it ends up suffering from burn-in issues.

This is the last compact smartphone from Apple and I really want to stick with it for years to come.

 

[G5isAlive]

Although you’re right in your whole idea (as is @Cobold ) the battery isn’t an issue. I plan to replace it every time it gets exhausted by the cycles, every time the health falls under 80%. Same with the screen, if it ends up suffering from burn-in issues.

This is the last compact smartphone from Apple and I really want to stick with it for years to come.

This is the last compact... today. there will be more. as others have gently pointed out, you are way over thinking it. there is no way to know, even if you DID get the information of which, of how YOUR SSD will last. there will be more variation based on use style and care (dont let it overheat a lot) than manufacturer. And they dont just slow down and wear out. They are not mechanical parts. They do fail either right from the start, which you will know, or after many many years of a lot of use.

 

[maerz001]

I never read in all the years on macrumors or elsewhere that an iphone died cos of the ssd.

that’s a nonissue

 

[minimo3]

I never read in all the years on macrumors or elsewhere that an iphone died cos of the ssd.

that’s a nonissue

We’ll let me give you a real world example: 2 weeks ago I woke up one morning to a dead 13 mini (iCloud indicated it backed itself up overnight at 3am). The phone was 2 years 1 month old and just outside the AppleCare+ coverage. I brought it to an Apple Store where they said it was a logic board failure. I was traveling internationally at the time so was forced to buy a new phone. When I got back I brought it to a highly regarded repair store which does board level micro soldering in hopes of fixing it since they don’t sell the mini anymore. After spending 2 days diagnosing the problem they said the SSD NAND had failed and there’s no cost effective way of repairing it.

 

[JPack]

We’ll let me give you a real world example: 2 weeks ago I woke up one morning to a dead 13 mini (iCloud indicated it backed itself up overnight at 3am). The phone was 2 years 1 month old and just outside the AppleCare+ coverage. I brought it to an Apple Store where they said it was a logic board failure. I was traveling internationally at the time so was forced to buy a new phone. When I got back I brought it to a highly regarded repair store which does board level micro soldering in hopes of fixing it since they don’t sell the mini anymore. After spending 2 days diagnosing the problem they said the SSD NAND had failed and there’s no cost effective way of repairing it.

I’m surprised the shop didn’t offer to upgrade the NAND for you.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Makes a lot of sense. I guess Apple will increase the capacities once they jump to QLC, to ensure the same level of reads for the entire life of the device.

Certainly hope not. QLC gives you the least TBW, with slower read/writes but offers greater capacity for the money.

(Am aware this is an older thread that's been revived recently)

 

[maerz001]

We’ll let me give you a real world example: 2 weeks ago I woke up one morning to a dead 13 mini (iCloud indicated it backed itself up overnight at 3am). The phone was 2 years 1 month old and just outside the AppleCare+ coverage. I brought it to an Apple Store where they said it was a logic board failure. I was traveling internationally at the time so was forced to buy a new phone. When I got back I brought it to a highly regarded repair store which does board level micro soldering in hopes of fixing it since they don’t sell the mini anymore. After spending 2 days diagnosing the problem they said the SSD NAND had failed and there’s no cost effective way of repairing it.

Ok. You won the lottery. first time in 14 years on MacRumors

 

[Populus]

Certainly hope not. QLC gives you the least TBW, with slower read/writes but offers greater capacity for the money.

(Am aware this is an older thread that's been revived recently)

I certainly hope not as well, even now in 2024, because of what you just said. But you know, if Apple decides to cut corners and offer bigger storages… that’s why I was interested in knowing the NAND type.

By the way, almost two years later, I’m enjoying an iPhone SE 3. Very happy. I ended up giving up on the mini due to PWM.