Sony to slap flash memory into new PSP this year?
Sony to slap flash memory into new PSP this year?
According to market sources, Sony plans to release a version of its PSP (PlayStation Portable) using NAND flash from Samsung Electronics in the second half of this year.
The PSP will feature 8GB of NAND flash, the sources stated.
Although recent reports stated that Sony would opt not to use NAND flash in the next version of its PSP, and would instead use a microdrive, the sources indicated that Sony was stalling to negotiate better pricing from Samsung.
We’ve heard rumblings of Sony plans to add storage to a new (possibly smaller) version of their PSP, starting with 50GB HDD rumors a year ago, but now we’re hearing of a possible deal between Sony and Samsung to add 8GB of flash memory to the portable. According to “market sources,” Sony has been pressuring Samsung to lower NAND flash prices by toying around with microdrives, but they’re really digging on those low-power flash chips and hope to cram 8GBs worth into a new PSP due the second half of this year — if all this is to be believed, of course.
When rumors circulated on February 16 that negotiations had broken down between Sony and Samsung, spot prices for 1Gbit and 2Gbit NAND flash dropped 5.3% and 3% in one day, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN).
Deutsche Bank was also cited by the report as commenting that the failure of Samsung and Sony to reach a supply agreement will suppress NAND flash prices further and push oversupply to 10% this year.
It all sounds rather similar to some Sony/Samsung 8GB dealings that went down last year that we assumed were linked to an iPod competitor in the works, which maybe is still a fair assumption. We sure wouldn’t mind a bit of built-in storage in the already media-centric PSP, especially since UMDs are sort of drying up, let’s just hope they can get over this Memory Stick addiction and do it on the cheap — and soon.
According to data from DRAMeXchange, 8Gbit spot prices have fallen from US$39 to US$34 since Chinese New Year, while prices for 4Gbit parts have fallen from US$23.36 to US$16.60
More: Gadgets