UPDATE 3/9/2024, 10am PT: VancouverMac.ca has provided us with additional information about its services and Apple PCs storage upgrade capabilities. While the company officially advertises storage upgrades for M1-based Macs only, it says that upgrades for other Apple Silicon-based Macs are identical, but some parts may differ.
Once upon a time, Apple's MacBook used M.2-like SSD modules that could be easily replaced or upgraded. Still, starting from the 2015 MacBook 12 systems, the company began soldering SSD components down to motherboards to make laptops thinner, thus making upgrades virtually impossible. But is it so? A repair shop from Canada offers to upgrade storage on Apple Silicon-based Macs to up to 2TB at a price lower than Apple's.
"Thankfully, due to advanced soldering techniques, it is now possible to upgrade the storage space of the newest MacBooks to their highest configuration, for prices lower than what is originally quoted by Apple at purchase," a statement by VancouverMac.ca reads.
Upgrade complexities
Indeed, a story from April 2021 about a team of engineers who managed to resolder DRAM and NAND flash chips on an M1-based Mac Mini made quite a splash. The engineers from China upgraded the cheapest Mac Mini M1 machine with 8GB of LPDDR4X memory and 256 GB of solid-state storage to a much more decent machine with 16 GB of DRAM and 1 TB of NAND storage. While resoldering may not be a problem for experienced people, Mac upgrades are not simple.
In MacBooks with the T2 chip (2018-2020) and Apple Silicon system-on-chips (M1, M2, M3), the custom firmware of the soldered-down SSD is specific to the configuration of actual NAND chips (or alternative packages). Therefore, these chips cannot be replaced, as firmware modification is required.
Fortunately, according to VancouverMac, the Apple Configurator utility can reprogram the SSD automatically through its restore function on Apple Silicon-based Macs, which makes storage upgrades of these machines a complex but doable task.
The process involves replacing NAND packages with higher-capacity packages supported by Apple (i.e., you need to know which packages Apple supports) and then running Apple Configurator on the machine through another Mac via a USB-C port to reprogram the SSD configuration. The company has even uploaded a video describing the key steps of the upgrade. By contrast, with T2-equipped machines, everything is much more complicated.
SSD upgrade opportunities
Although the official page at VancouverMac says it offers storage upgrades for M1-based MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, the company can upgrade Apple Silicon-based systems, including those based on M2 and M3-series processors, according to its founder.
The upgrade service can be performed for all of the below listed," said Sam Freeman, the owner of VancouverMac.ca. "The overall process is identical, but the parts used are different. The M1 Pro, M2, and M3 series use smaller chips with more dense connections, making it a bit harder, but it is very doable. I cannot confirm if parts are currently available for the M3 Macs since they are so new, but they will surely be released soon."
Pricing varies. For 2TB of presumably high-performance storage, the company wants $550 CAD/$407USD, which may be a little bit overwhelming considering the external storage options available, but it may be just right when you need high-performance internal storage.
Further upgrades
Given VancouverMac.ca's claimed capabilities, we asked whether the company can upgade storage devices of other Apple devices, such as M1/M2-based iPads, which share hardware with MacBooks. The company does not seem to offer such services for now though.
"I do not have much experience with iPads/iPhones but based on my knowledge the DFU restore process should do the same thing for iPad which would mean this is possible on the iPads too," Freeman said.
