The back-to-school season in Europe and launch of new Apple products will stimulate demand significantly for NAND flash memory in September 2013, according to Phison Electronics.

　　July prices for NAND flash memory fell but within a seasonal range, said Phison. Actual demand is not quite as brisk as expected, but is not bad enough to have a negative outlook, Phison noted.

　　NAND flash prices are set to rebound as early as August, as system OEMs step up their pace of orders to replenish inventories ahead of new product rollouts, Phison said. In addition, demand will be stimulated by the upcoming iPhone devices, Phison indicated.

　　Apple reportedly will introduce the iPhone 5S and a low-cost version of the current iPhone 5 in September.

　　In other news, Phison reported pre-tax profits for the second quarter of 2013 of NT$1.04 billion (US$34.86 million), hitting a record high. The earnings translated into a pre-tax EPS of NT$5.78. Revenues for the second quarter increased 16.5% sequentially to NT$8.3 billion.

　　Phison specializes in the design and development of NAND flash controllers, including controllers for embedded applications such as eMMC and solid-state drives (SSD).