MacRumors.com

Forbes reports on Apple's "secret weapon" that has helped keep its earnings well above expectations: falling NAND-flash memory prices. And according to Forbes, there are no signs that this trend will abate anytime soon.

Tech tracker iSuppli released a report last week predicting that the dollar value of flash memory sales will decline this year and next, even as unit sales pick up.

A combination of falling demand and over supply are contributing to the plummeting prices. The benefit to Apple will be higher margins for their current products as well as the ability to incorporate higher capacity storage into future products.

The dropping prices may also allow Apple and other companies to put more flash-based hard drives into their notebooks. Apple recently introduced a 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) option for their MacBook Pro. Apple's iPod and iPhone products could also see higher capacities over time.