In May, the committee published the final specifications of JEDEC memory standard LPDDR3 , which will replace common type now LPDDR2 memory. The new memory will be 20% more economical and much faster, starting with LPDDR3-1600 MHz, whereas LPDDR2 complete development at a frequency of 1066 MHz. The increased memory bandwidth is designed to meet the growing demand for multimedia mobile platforms as a smartphones component, and tablets, and laptops. Beauty requires sacrifice, while increased energy efficiency will try to save the world from the threat of an energy crisis.
According to experts, the new memory type reaches 20% share in total supplies of mobile memory in the second half of next year. With the increasing mass production of LPDDR3 Samsung, SK Hynix and Elpida companies LPDDR3 share will be 50% to the fall of 2014, after which a new memory type becomes dominant. It is noted that a surge of LPDDR3 interest will facilitate broad adaptation of new standard in notebook memory subsystems. Platform Intel Haswell, for example, initially focused on the use of LPDDR3 memory.
In the fourth quarter 2010, the price difference of LPDDR1 and LPDDR2 chip was 30%. It is clear that while the vast majority of smartphones relied on LPDDR1 memory (all data are given for the memory capacity 4 GB). A year later - in the fourth quarter 2011 - the difference in price was already at 15%, and the quarter after it had fallen to 5% or less. The sharp decline due to the wide adaptation of LPDDR2 and massive release of new smart phones at the beginning of the year. As a result, in the second quarter of 2012 LPDDR2 memory is switched to its dominant market in the category.
According to DRAMeXchange, the rate of decline in prices for LPDDR3 memory exceed the rate of reducing the cost of LPDDR1 memory . It will happen in three to five quarters. At first - within one to two quarters .
In conclusion, it should be said that LPDDR3 memory can get in the face of rival memory Wide I / O . The latter is packaged in an enclosure at least four memory crystals LPDDR2, organized into a single unit with a width of 512-bit bus. Expansion of data bus will dramatically increase memory bandwidth, but production of such a memory is associated with technical difficulties for its production. However, the memory Wide I / O has a chance to eventually oust LPDDR3. But now to predict its success or failure is impossible.