80GB Players Coming?

Toshiba has announced two new harddrives in 40GB and 80GB flavors that should pave the way for larger storage capacities while continuing to drive device size down. The 1.8" drives are the current standard formfactor for full-size MP3 players and should make their debut in Q3 2005. Toshiba is the drive supplier for Apple's iPod and iPod Photo, so it is virtually certain that Apple will be one of the first to get their hands on the new drives.

Exactly which Apple devices will get which drive is up for speculation. Our guess will be that the 40GB will go into both the iPod and iPod Photo, while the 80GB drive will only be in the iPod Photo. Also, since the new 40GB drive is smaller than the one Apple is presently using, we guess that Apple will likely rev the iPod to its fifth-generation with an even smaller package.

More bits at MacWorld and Slashdot.

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