Samsung today announced that it has sampled the world's first 16-gigabit (2GB) NAND flash memory chip, which may well end up in a future revision of Apple's flash-based iPod nano or iPod shuffle players. The new technology is one of the first chips to be manufactured using an ultra-dense 50-nanometer process, which is a new technology designed to boost devices that traditionally rely on sheer capacity, such as solid-state drives. Samsung claims that the new chips offer more capacity without sacrificing speed, but admits to a manufacturing process using multi-level cells (MLC) rather than the faster single-level designs. The new chip boasts double the page memory of older MLC devices, which effectively doubles read speed when compared to older chips while increasing the write speed by as much as 150 percent, according to Electronista.

The chip-maker hopes to start full-scale production of the 16Gbit flash chips in the first quarter of 2007, making no mention of specific partners likely to use the technology. The introduction of the new technology will likely pave the way for higher-capacity iPod nanos, however, as Apple has historically relied on Samsung's memory as the cornerstone of its mid-range jukebox.