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16GB vs 32GB iPhone 3GS

C

charliecc

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 24, 2008
207
0
Firstly, this is not a thread bitching about how I can't upgrade etc, I entered an 18 month contract and I fully expected to have to see it through.

However, can someone explain why there is such a difference in price between the 16GB and 32GB phones considering they're exactly the same apart from the flash memory.

UK PAYG Prices
---------------
16GB: £440
32GB: £540

US Contract (no PAYG in US)
------------
16GB: $199
32GB: $299

Last time I looked memory was as cheap as chips, so how is this price difference justified. £100 for an extra 16GB!! £20 - £30 maybe.
 
charliecc said:
Firstly, this is not a thread bitching about how I can't upgrade etc, I entered an 18 month contract and I fully expected to have to see it through.

However, can someone explain why there is such a difference in price between the 16GB and 32GB phones considering they're exactly the same apart from the flash memory.

UK PAYG Prices
---------------
16GB: £440
32GB: £540

US Contract (no PAYG in US)
------------
16GB: $199
32GB: $299

Last time I looked memory was as cheap as chips, so how is this price difference justified. £100 for an extra 16GB!! £20 - £30 maybe.
Click to expand...

$100 difference for 2x the RAM. There's not much price differentiation at $20 for marketing purposes. Plus, figure what the RAM configs are. Two 8GB chips for 16GB are usually pretty cheap. 2 16GB chips are substanially higher, as witness when I go to by 16GB SD Cards for my DSLR compared to an 8GB card. Plus Apple wants to make a profit.
 
Razeus said:
$100 difference for 2x the RAM. There's not much price differentiation at $20 for marketing purposes. Plus, figure what the RAM configs are. Two 8GB chips for 16GB are usually pretty cheap. 2 16GB chips are substanially higher, as witness when I go to by 16GB SD Cards for my DSLR compared to an 8GB card. Plus Apple wants to make a profit.
Click to expand...

Flash memory != RAM.

I don't think the 32gig has twice the RAM as the 16gig.

If it does, I'm gonna be pretty pissed - lol
 
Yeah, it's not twice the RAM it's twice the storage capacity. The only difference between the 2 phones is 16GB of storage.
 
charliecc said:
Yeah, it's not twice the RAM it's twice the storage capacity. The only difference between the 2 phones is 16GB of storage.
Click to expand...

The cost for Apple as a company is a bit higher per phone, as they only use single chips, and 32GB chips aren't quite dirt-cheap yet. But primarily, they're maintaining the price-points of the 3G, which were proven successful. 16GB of extra storage offers plenty-good differentiation between model numbers, something that Joe Six-Pack can understand, and they will sell at those prices. To shrink the differential to something lower would be to undervalue what 'twice as much storage!' means to the average consumer.

Though the price difference in the UK is significantly larger (1.6x) than in the US, thanks to Apple's love of nice, clean increments.
 
I believe iPhone only uses a single flash chip, so just one 16GB and one 32GB unlike the iPod Touch which has two, and why it usually gets double the capacity.

A single 32GB chip is significantly more expensive than a 16GB one. Looking at SD cards (which isn't really a direct comparison, but it's all I have) a 16GB one costs around $30 while a 32GB one is around $100.
 
Storage space, RAM, whatever. Doesn't change the fact that 16GB chips aren't as cheap as 8GB chips.

You knew what I meant.
 
jclardy said:
I believe iPhone only uses a single flash chip, so just one 16GB and one 32GB unlike the iPod Touch which has two, and why it usually gets double the capacity.

A single 32GB chip is significantly more expensive than a 16GB one. Looking at SD cards (which isn't really a direct comparison, but it's all I have) a 16GB one costs around $30 while a 32GB one is around $100.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

iPhone has one single slot for Flash memory.

iPod Touch has 2 slots for Flash memory.

one single 32GB flash memory costs a lot more than 2 16GB flash memory.
 
jclardy said:
I believe iPhone only uses a single flash chip, so just one 16GB and one 32GB unlike the iPod Touch which has two, and why it usually gets double the capacity.

A single 32GB chip is significantly more expensive than a 16GB one. Looking at SD cards (which isn't really a direct comparison, but it's all I have) a 16GB one costs around $30 while a 32GB one is around $100.
Click to expand...

Since this is the first 32GB iPhone model, wouldn't it be safe to say that Apple also updated the insides to two flash slots?
 
On another note, this has to mean that a 64GB iPod Touch is just around the corner. That's just some juicy goodness there...
 
Look at it this way, this time you get an extra 16GB for your hundred dollars. With the 3G, you only got an extra 8GB.:)
 
D3lta said:
Since this is the first 32GB iPhone model, wouldn't it be safe to say that Apple also updated the insides to two flash slots?
Click to expand...

Doubt it. Things were pretty tight in there to begin with.

I imagine we'll see a 64GB iPod touch in the next few months.
 
What til someone takes one of these bad boys apart and discovers all phones ship with a 32GB chip and apple have limited it in the firmware ;)

Unlikely I know, but it's been done by other companies before. And before you ask why, to reduce production costs as they can just have a single production line.
 
Well, in the US, the if you are a new customer, you can get the iPhone for a SUBSIDIZED price of 199 and 299. If you are in the middle of your contract it will cost you a little more, I am not sure how much but its like 400 or 500? And then if you don't want any contract it become like 600 to 700.
 
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