Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 May Have Hidden Flash Storage - MacRumors
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Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 May Have Hidden Flash Storage

apple watch s12 ultra 4Apple is using a 128GB NAND flash die in Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 models, claims a Chinese hardware researcher, despite both devices officially offering only 64GB of storage. It's unclear why Apple would limit the accessible capacity, but it could conceivably be reserving some of it for intensive sensor data read/writes or as a durability buffer.

Something similar happened with the M4 iPad Pro in 2024, when teardowns indicated that 8GB models actually contained 12GB of physical RAM, with only 8GB made available to the system. Intriguingly, a 128GB NAND storage profile tied to the T8320 chip for the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 was discovered earlier this month. Teardowns will hopefully clarify the situation.

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Top Rated Comments

6 weeks ago
hidden storage is used to store the error logs from them constantly crashing
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Arran Avatar
6 weeks ago
Explains the global memory shortage: Half's been hidden!

/s
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
6 weeks ago

Have no idea why Apple does this. This is exactly like how it is on my M4 iPad Pro. Still disappointing that when there is 12GB on the device, the access is restricted. Because of this, Apple Intelligence features could be restricted. Also software support might end earlier. Hopefully this won't be the case with the new watches.
Maybe if you asked Siri nicely, she would release the hidden 4GB. :)
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
6 weeks ago

Explains the global memory shortage: Half's been hidden!

/s
It is kind of insulting, given how they've hiked prices on nearly every product due to memory and storage costs this year, but then sell you a significant amount of RAM that the device artificially locks you out from using.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
6 weeks ago
Have no idea why Apple does this. This is exactly like how it is on my M4 iPad Pro. Still disappointing that when there is 12GB on the device, the access is restricted. Because of this, Apple Intelligence features could be restricted. Also software support might end earlier. Hopefully this won't be the case with the new watches.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
timshundo Avatar
6 weeks ago
Binned chips
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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