Apple Silicon Soldered SSD Upgrade Thread

[dosdude1]

In this thread, we intend to share all relevant details, resources, and processes involved with upgrading soldered storage on Apple Silicon Macs.

Notes

• All M1 systems utilize BGA110 "S5E" NANDs
• Some M2 systems use BGA110, while some use BGA315

Table of supported NAND configurations

SSD Size​	Disk Brand​	M1 BGA110 (A2337 13" MBA) (A2338 13" MBP) (A2348 Macmini) (A2438 24" iMac) (A2439 24" iMac)​	M1 Pro Max Ultra BGA110 (A2442 14" MBP) (A2485 16" MBP) (A2615 Macstudio)​	M2 BGA110 (A2681 13" MBA)​	M2 BGA315 (A2941 15" MBA) (A2686 Macmini)​	M2 Pro Max Ultra BGA315 (A2779 14" MBP) (A2780 16" MBP) (A2901 Macstudio) (A2786 MacPro) A2787 Mac Pro)​	M3 BGA315 (A2873 24" iMac) (A2874 24" iMac) (A2992 14" MBP) (A3113 13" MBA) (A3114 15" MBA)​	M3 Pro Max BGA315 (A2992 14" MBP) (A2991 16" MBP)​
256GB​	Kioxia Hynix Sandisk​	1xKICM232/1xKICM225 2xHN3T0BA2CAX178 ?​	X​	? 1xHN3T1BA4GAX170 ?​	1xK5A4 ? ?​	X​	2xK5A3 ? ?​	X​
512GB​	Kioxia Hynix Sandisk​	1xKICM233/1xKICM227 ? ?​	1xKICM232/3xKICM225 ? ?​	? ? ?​	2xK5A4 ? ?​	2xK5A4 ? ?​	2xK5A4 ? ?​	? ? ?​
1TB​	Kioxia Hynix Sandisk​	2xKICM229 ? ?​	1xKICM233/3xKICM227 ? ?​	? ? ?​	2xK5A5? ? ?​	4xK5A4? ? ?​	? ? ?​	? ? ?​
2TB​	Kioxia Hynix Sandisk​	2xKICM223 2xH23B8T85K7AFJ ?​	4xKICM229 ? ?​	2xKIC5228 2xHN3T3BAGCAX172 ?​	2xK5A8? ? ?​	? ? ?​	? ? ?​	? ? ?​
4TB​	Kioxia Hynix Sandisk​	X​	8xKICM229 ? 8xSDRFGJH1H​	X​	X​	? ? ?​	X​	? ? ?​
8TB​	Kioxia Hynix Sandisk​	X​	8xKICM223 ? ?​	X​	X​	? ? ?​	X​	? ? ?​

( table courtesy of @gilles_polysoft )​

• Standard M1
  • 2TB: 2x KICM223
  • 1TB: 2x KICM229
• M1 Pro/Max/Ultra:
  • 2TB: 4x KICM229
  • 4TB: 8x KICM229 (requires adding missing components to use other 4 NAND landing pads)
  • 8TB: 8x KICM223

Upgrading Process

To complete these upgrades most effectively, the best option is to try and locate brand new, "blank" chips to install. In such instance, all you need to do is solder on the new chips onto any NAND landing pad on the desired board, DFU restore, and that's it. Technically, only NAND0 (master NAND) needs to be blank, or in the case of utilizing an 8 NAND config on M1 Pro/Max/Ultra, the master NAND of each channel/port needs to be blank.

If you cannot locate blank chips, and don't have a matched pre-programmed set to simply transfer over, you will need to program them yourself before installation using JC P13 or P15 programmer. To do so, you will need appropriate dumps for your desired config, specific to the desired NANDs. This thread will also serve as a place to share such dumps. The dumps I have currently are linked below:

• 2x KICM223 2TB config (for any standard M1 Mac, including MacBook Pro, Air, Mac Mini, etc. Tested and known working(courtesy of @gilles_polysoft)
• 4x KICM229 2TB config (for any M1 Pro/Max/Ultra system. Untested, but includes dumps of known-blank chips, which may be usable to revert a programmed KICM229 back to a "blank" state)

For more info on the NAND replacement, programming, and addition of extra components to allow a previously unpopulated NAND landing pad to function, you can watch my video:

 

[Chuckeee]

Fascinating to hear about and watch although clearly beyond my meager abilities.

 

[Guenter]

Nice work, but nothing i would like to do at home.

 

[Melbourne Park]

Awesome!!! And brave / skilled.

You should have been a doctor, and a surgeon. The pay would be better .... and maybe a brain surgeon.

Apple's drive prices are too high.

My research:

(via a spreadsheet) :

The average price for Apple computer drives is $290.53 per Terabyte (TB).

The average price for NVME drives of Apple speed is $121.66 per TB. On average for internal storage, Apple is charging for computer storage, almost two and half times as the best NVME drives cost.

Currently (via B&H) a 4 TB is the best value at $85 per TB.

Apple's price in a computer for a 4TB drive is $317.38 per TB. 3.7 times price - rounded its four times the price if a B&H similar speed drive!!

The average price for iPad Pros per TB is $1,103.52, although above the base 128 GB, the average is $1,281.74 per TB. The base 128 GB is "only" $390.63 per TB. Hence if value orientated, iPad users should stick to the base drives. And the iPad seems crippled for large on board information work, due to such high storage prices. Best to buy a computer for such things, not an iPad. Hence too, an M2 processor makes no sense in an iPad. Or even an M1 for that matter.


Hence with Apple's high storage prices, I do not expect Apple to introduce Thunderbolt 5 for a considerable time!!

 

[magbarn]

Awesome!!! And brave / skilled.

You should have been a doctor, and a surgeon. The pay would be better .... and maybe a brain surgeon.

Apple's drive prices are too high.

My research:

(via a spreadsheet) :

The average price for Apple computer drives is $290.53 per Terabyte (TB).

The average price for NVME drives of Apple speed is $121.66 per TB. On average for internal storage, Apple is charging for computer storage, almost two and half times as the best NVME drives cost.

Currently (via B&H) a 4 TB is the best value at $85 per TB.

Apple's price in a computer for a 4TB drive is $317.38 per TB. 3.7 times price - rounded its four times the price if a B&H similar speed drive!!

The average price for iPad Pros per TB is $1,103.52, although above the base 128 GB, the average is $1,281.74 per TB. The base 128 GB is "only" $390.63 per TB. Hence if value orientated, iPad users should stick to the base drives. And the iPad seems crippled for large on board information work, due to such high storage prices. Best to buy a computer for such things, not an iPad. Hence too, an M2 processor makes no sense in an iPad. Or even an M1 for that matter.


Hence with Apple's high storage prices, I do not expect Apple to introduce Thunderbolt 5 for a considerable time!!

The C suites making these ram/storage decisions are making more each year than a doctor earns in a lifetime 🤣

 

[startergo]

The more important question is how much you would charge to perform the upgrade? 90% would be interested in this question and maybe 10% of doing it themselves.

 

[Houpla]

So theoretically it is possible to upgrade 14" M1 Pro MBP with 1TB to 8TB by soldering 8 KICM223? They seem to go for $50-70. Is it a recent development that they are available for purchase? Louis Rossmann have said several times in his videos he can only get them from donor boards and isn't comfortable doing that.

 

[dosdude1]

So theoretically it is possible to upgrade 14" M1 Pro MBP with 1TB to 8TB by soldering 8 KICM223? They seem to go for $50-70. Is it a recent development that they are available for purchase? Louis Rossmann have said several times in his videos he can only get them from donor boards and isn't comfortable doing that.

Correct, it indeed is. The only catch is you also have to install about 160+ tiny passive components (resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc) to allow the extra 4 NAND pads, that normally are not used for 2TB and lower configs, to function. You also need to ensure that at least the "master" NAND of each channel is brand new/blank, as we don't have a firmware dump for this config yet.

 

[Houpla]

I wonder what would happen if I soldered 4 KICM223 trying to get to 4TB…

 

[gilles_polysoft]

So theoretically it is possible to upgrade 14" M1 Pro MBP with 1TB to 8TB by soldering 8 KICM223? They seem to go for $50-70. Is it a recent development that they are available for purchase? Louis Rossmann have said several times in his videos he can only get them from donor boards and isn't comfortable doing that.

just a little contribution, as for Louis Rossman not being comfortable with "donor" components

there is two things to say about that :

1 - don't ask me how, but there is for years Chinese suppliers for brand new, original caps, inductors and more importantly brand new NANDs and power supply ICs.
(those are KICM223R and 338S000600 IC's in the case of A2442/A2485 8TB configs)

The Chinese market for NAND upgrades for iPhones is a thing for years, it is established and huge, and there are quality and trusty sellers over there.
I think we can be grateful of the knowledges and quality of work of Chinese technicians for this.

Our luck is that Applesilicon Macs (even the M2 Mac Pro) do use the exact sames NANDs found in every iPhone
(M1 mac use the same NANDS as iPhone 13, most M2 Mac use the same NANDs as in iPhone 14, etc).

You can check the references I have collected in the table of the first post of this thread.

It's simple logic : Apple achieves economies of scale, better pricing and overall quality by sourcing only one type of NAND for all its products: iPhones first, iPads second, and Macs third (and accessories at last).

So, in our misfortune that Apple solder and glue NAND chips, we are fortunate that there has been for years a mature iPhone upgrade market in China for years that we can take advantage of.



2 - The NAND chips used in iPhones and Apple Silicon Macs are really solid.

I mean really really really solid.

As a test, I've been trying for months to "kill" two Mac Mini M1s I owned before upgrading them to 2 TB.

I wrote with a script 700TB of data before their SMART "remaining life" status went to 0% which is remarkable for 256GB SSDs. This is a 700TBW "official" lifetime.

But there's more : I've continued the test and is is still not over.
At that time, my 2 mac minis both continue to accept writes at the nominal rate (3GB/s on the 1st third and 700MB/s thereafter as they're in TLC).

I'm up to 2.3PB of written data on one mac mini.
And 4.5PB on the other I started earlier (and still running).
4.5PBW... for a 256 2-chips SSD...
And both are still running day and night, just like the first day.



what will be the lifetime of the 8TB SSD ? I'm going to test it in the Mac Studio cards clones I'm starting to built.


I'm writing this message on a 13" M1 MBA that I upgraded to 2TB a year and a half ago. With a quite intensive use, I am at ~60TBW so around 40TBW a year.

Of course due to my job I'm a backup maniac, so that's a reason not to be worried.
But I'm also not worried at all about reaching my 2TB SSD's lifespan any time soon because it should take me anything between 10 and 100 years to reach the lifetime of this 2TB SSD : all other parts of the mac would be dead before the NANDs will start to fail...

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but even if I was soldering used NANDs on a customer board, there would be no real danger here.

The real problem is that someone CAN solder and sell used NANDs.
No one should do this and I will never because in my case I have a trusty seller and always put new NANDs.

But the real problem is that once reprogrammed, used NANDs will show a false "data unit written" value of 0...

 

[Houpla]

Thanks Gilles for your thoughts and information on Chinese upgrade market! I have no idea why Luis is ignoring the market of new NANDs then. Really impressive stats for your MacMini experiment! 😮

I wonder what would happen if I soldered 4 KICM223 trying to get to 4TB…

That's to avoid soldering hundreds of additional components for the unoccupied pads on M1 Pro Macbook.

 

[dosdude1]

I wonder what would happen if I soldered 4 KICM223 trying to get to 4TB…

I have tried this already, and since it is not a supported config, it did NOT work.

 

[Houpla]

OK, thanks! If I'll ever try this, no half measures then, will go for full 8TB.

 

[dontlan]

just a little contribution, as for Louis Rossman not being comfortable with "donor" components

there is two things to say about that :

1 - don't ask me how, but there is for years Chinese suppliers for brand new, original caps, inductors and more importantly brand new NANDs and power supply ICs.
(those are KICM223R and 338S000600 IC's in the case of A2442/A2485 8TB configs)

The Chinese market for NAND upgrades for iPhones is a thing for years, it is established and huge, and there are quality and trusty sellers over there.
I think we can be grateful of the knowledges and quality of work of Chinese technicians for this.

Our luck is that Applesilicon Macs (even the M2 Mac Pro) do use the exact sames NANDs found in every iPhone
(M1 mac use the same NANDS as iPhone 13, most M2 Mac use the same NANDs as in iPhone 14, etc).

You can check the references I have collected in the table of the first post of this thread.

It's simple logic : Apple achieves economies of scale, better pricing and overall quality by sourcing only one type of NAND for all its products: iPhones first, iPads second, and Macs third (and accessories at last).

So, in our misfortune that Apple solder and glue NAND chips, we are fortunate that there has been for years a mature iPhone upgrade market in China for years that we can take advantage of.



2 - The NAND chips used in iPhones and Apple Silicon Macs are really solid.

I mean really really really solid.

As a test, I've been trying for months to "kill" two Mac Mini M1s I owned before upgrading them to 2 TB.

I wrote with a script 700TB of data before their SMART "remaining life" status went to 0% which is remarkable for 256GB SSDs. This is a 700TBW "official" lifetime.

But there's more : I've continued the test and is is still not over.
At that time, my 2 mac minis both continue to accept writes at the nominal rate (3GB/s on the 1st third and 700MB/s thereafter as they're in TLC).

I'm up to 2.3PB of written data on one mac mini.
And 4.5PB on the other I started earlier (and still running).
4.5PBW... for a 256 2-chips SSD...
And both are still running day and night, just like the first day.

View attachment 2346747

what will be the lifetime of the 8TB SSD ? I'm going to test it in the Mac Studio cards clones I'm starting to built.


I'm writing this message on a 13" M1 MBA that I upgraded to 2TB a year and a half ago. With a quite intensive use, I am at ~60TBW so around 40TBW a year.

Of course due to my job I'm a backup maniac, so that's a reason not to be worried.
But I'm also not worried at all about reaching my 2TB SSD's lifespan any time soon because it should take me anything between 10 and 100 years to reach the lifetime of this 2TB SSD : all other parts of the mac would be dead before the NANDs will start to fail...

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but even if I was soldering used NANDs on a customer board, there would be no real danger here.

The real problem is that someone CAN solder and sell used NANDs.
No one should do this and I will never because in my case I have a trusty seller and always put new NANDs.

But the real problem is that once reprogrammed, used NANDs will show a false "data unit written" value of 0...

comes out that the actual tbw of my ssd 256gb on my m2 has a value of about 4-5 pettabytes?

 

[Houpla]

Eagerly awaiting info what type of NAND the new Macbook Air M3 uses.

 

[Pressure]

Eagerly awaiting info what type of NAND the new Macbook Air M3 uses.

Expect BGA315 like the rest of the M3 series.

 

[dosdude1]

Eagerly awaiting info what type of NAND the new Macbook Air M3 uses.

All the new Apple Devices use BGA315, and I don't expect that to change anytime soon. Even the Vision Pro uses the same.

 

[acorntoy]

The more important question is how much you would charge to perform the upgrade? 90% would be interested in this question and maybe 10% of doing it themselves.

With the risk involved by both the seller and buyer it's crazy to believe somebody would provide this service/let somebody do it to their computer. If it was a service factoring in risks/labor/parts etc it could very likely be charged more than apples original upgrades.
This is purely for DIY.

AMAZING feat OP.

 

[Houpla]

Is "easy100fix Store" on Ali a reputable store?

 

[Houpla]

Good news, it will be easier to upgrade M3 Macbook Air than M2: https://www.macrumors.com/2024/03/09/base-model-m3-macbook-air-faster-ssd/

 

[Pressure]

Good news, it will be easier to upgrade M3 Macbook Air than M2: https://www.macrumors.com/2024/03/09/base-model-m3-macbook-air-faster-ssd/

Looking at the rows of tiny SMDs surrounding the NAND flash I have some doubts 😅

 

[dosdude1]

Looking at the rows of tiny SMDs surrounding the NAND flash I have some doubts 😅

Actually working on an M2 upgrade right now. Removing the original chip was actually not that bad to do (didn’t touch any nearby components), but populating the missing components to allow use of the second NAND was quite a pain on this.

And for those wondering, no, KICM223 chips do NOT work on the M2... So now I am waiting on some different chips to finish this upgrade.

 

[Houpla]

populating the missing components to allow use of the second NAND was quite a pain on this.

That's what I meant by saying M3 will be easier.

 

[Sauve Mon Mac]

Actually working on an M2 upgrade right now. Removing the original chip was actually not that bad to do (didn’t touch any nearby components), but populating the missing components to allow use of the second NAND was quite a pain on this.

And for those wondering, no, KICM223 chips do NOT work on the M2... So now I am waiting on some different chips to finish this upgrade.

View attachment 2357564 View attachment 2357565

You need 5228 chips, it works well, I’ve done it on my MacBook Air M2 13.

 

[dosdude1]

You need 5228 chips, it works well, I’ve done it on my MacBook Air M2 13.

I know, trying to locate some.