Japanese manufacturer Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has ceased production of 1-inch hard drives and is planning to end production of 1.8-inch hard drives as well, according to the Nikkei business daily. The report cites manufacturers favoring flash-based storage over spinning disks for portable electronics as the main reason behind the decision.

Meanwhile, Fujitsu, which has been planning to enter the market of miniature HDDs for some time now, decided not to move into the mini hard drive production, but to concentrate on flash-based storage devices instead – leaving Toshiba, the largest maker of 1.8-inch hard drives, in a very comfortable position.

Hitachi GST is said to be concentrating on 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch hard drives, anticipating strong demand for bigger drives used in personal computers and digital electronics.