Apple stops modded iPhone Air storage upgrades: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB upgrades don't work

Apple's new iPhone Air is finally here, shipping in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB variants but if you purchased a 256GB model and wanted to mod it to 512GB or 1TB... well, it's not going to work, and here's why:

The company is severely limiting storage upgrades to the iPhone Air with modder DirectorFong trying to upgrade his new ultra-thin iPhone Air 256GB smartphone to a larger 1TB of storage using intricate soldering methods. Once he disassembled the iPhone Air and got to the logic board, the modder found the storage chip features a serial number beginning with "2NB", noting he's not noticed this configuration on previous iPhones.

The modder says that the NAND flash modules weren't sourced from the usual suspects in Samsung, SK hynix, Toshiba, or Sandisk, noting that Apple could be using leftover inventory from YMTC since that company isn't a supplier anymore because of US trade restrictions.

After "wiping out" the stock NAND storage module, the modder installed a 1TB storage chip onto the iPhone Air, and then started flashing iOS when connecting the iPhone Air to his Mac.

This is when things went wrong.

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An error code of "4014" appeared, saying that the flashing of the iPhone Air was "unsuccessful", so the YouTuber tried a 512GB NAND flash chip which showed the same error. Lastly, DirectorFong tried a 256GB module which came up with the same error... meaning that either the NAND chips were incompatible with the iPhone Air, or Apple is deliberately stopping modders from upgrading the storage on the iPhone Air (and this makes more sense, given it's Apple).