How does sd cards have 32gb, 64gb and 128 gb of storage when theyre exactly the same size?
In: Engineering
The process is called binning. Integrated circuit manufacturing isn’t necessarily perfect. Once a wafer is completed, cut, and packaged, it gets tested. How much memory is working on the card? Round the device down to the nearest standard unit, stick a label on it, and sell it. They do the exact same thing with microprocessors – Intel doesn’t make hundreds of different processors on purpose, they have only a few production lines, their goal is to make top-end processors every time; but they know they don’t have that much control and random parts all over the chip aren’t going to work. So they disable those broken sections and sell it as a lesser model. Though, sometimes, when the manufacturing process gets perfected, they make too many good parts. Instead of dropping the price of their top of the line product, they may instead artificially limit a perfectly good chip and sell it as a lesser variety in order to continue capturing that market segment. They do the math and come to that conclusion when it’s more economical than to drop prices. Overclockers seek these particular devices out, and aim to reenable these sections of the chip. This is called unlocking. It’s not a trivial hobby.
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