Can I upgrade the SSD on late 2013 retina Mac Book Pro?

Question

Do the late 2013 models (13" - (ME864LL/A, ME865LL/A, ME866LL/A), 15" - (ME293LL/A, ME294LL/A)) support after market SSD upgrades? If so, is a drive that works with the late 2012/ early 2013 rMBPs compatible with the late 2013 models?

Although not officially supported - A couple sources (EveryMac, OWC) indicate the late 2012/ early 2013 rMBPs support after market SSD upgrades.

[Update] ifixit posted a teardown here indicating in step 8 that:

The proprietary SSD has changed to a PCIe format, but still isn't a standard 2.5" drive. However, it is a separate daughtercard, and we’re hopeful we can offer an upgrade in the near future.

Answer 1

Update (5/24/2016)

Salvation is here! OWC has released SSD upgrades for the MacBook Pro with Retina Display 13" & 15" Late 2013, 2014, and 2015

Answer 2

The current OWC PCIe SSD's for Macbook Pro Retina's 10,1/2 work for the 2012/early2013 models. Not the Late 2013 models (11,1 (13-inch models) & 11,2 (2.0 GHz 15-inch model) & 11,3 (2.3 GHz 15-inch model) ID#'s).

They claim they will release compatible upgrades "for next year". So, I guess, not until 2014. Could be sooner, I don't know the history of their estimates->outcomes of SSD releases for pre-announced/expected products.

Answer 3

Yes, you can. As OWC says the late 2013 MacBook Pro with retina display uses a separated SSD drive like the old gen. However this time Apple went with PCI Express instead of the old SATA drive. The current OWC alternative SSDs are not compatible with the latest generation. But OWC promises that they will offer the products for the latest model "in near future", and from my past experiences I estimate that it will come to us around April 2014.

Answer 4

You can upgrade using Samsung XP941 series drives. 128GB, 256GB or 512GB available. Very expensive at this time though.

Answer 5

The connector on the XP941 is different from the connector on the SSD PCIe cards used in the late MacBook Pros.