A recent Gartner report points out that Apple's buying power may be able to press NAND flash prices low enough for greatly increased capacity Nano's when their rumored refresh appears in the fall.
Gartner forecasts that a 16Gb (2GB) device will be available in the third quarter for about $30, down from its current price of about $35. Due to Apple's procurement power and investment, it is conceivable that it could get pricing for a device at $25 or even $20. This pricing would enable capacities of 12GB, leaving enough room for the remaining component and manufacturing costs as well as Apple's margin, while still reaching a $250 price point.
A recent rumor stated that Apple has been stocking up on NAND flash memory, presumably for iPods. The current highest-capacity iPod Nano is 4 GB.
