Samsung have announced their 40nm 32 gigabyte NAND flash memory today. Thanks to a new development called "New Charge Trap Flash" technology, or NCTF for short, it is now possible to produce flash memory devices up to 64GB in size. This should be a significant development as flash memory of this size will rival traditional hard disc technology in many markets.

When you think the standard storage space on a MP3 player is between 20-60 gigabytes there should be the potential to produce smaller MP3 players like the iPod Nano, which have the storage space of their larger hard disc based brethren. Although, flash based products would carry a price premium, due to the expensive nature of flash memory, the products would have numerous advantages.

However, I am more concerned with the development of Hybrid Hard Drives, or Solid State Discs (follow up on SSDs here.) Whereas previously, Samsung where planning on using just 4GB flash memory in these hybrid drives, we could see the amount of flash memory used cataplut even higher. Perhaps, for a high price, a pure flash based hard drive could be produced for the enthusiast market to compete with the excellent Raptor drives.

All we need now is for the price of flash memory to keep on dropping so these larger capacites can be of practical use.