4K Videos on a 16GB 6s ? Design Flaw or Deliberate ?

[warrior2000]

Define a tech nerd then.

Tell me things a tech nerd would do differently on their phone compared to a casual user that would require so much more storage space. Do not include apps, photos or music though because casual users would definitely install large apps (FIFA 15 for example which is over a Gb), photos because many casual users take hundreds of photos. Music partly because Apple are marketing Apple Music (each song has a higher bitrate). When I first bought an iPhone I wouldn't have considered myself a tech nerd however I had a large iTunes library which I synced to my phone.

The people I believe you are referring to in terms of these casual or general public populations are literally children or mums.

People aren't as tech illiterate these days.

Okay. I could get by with a 16GB phone. Here is what I use my phone for and I think I'm pretty similiar to many mainstream people:

Calls
Text
Stream music
Stream netflix
Stream TV shows
Podcasts
Web
email
couple dozen apps
Couple hundred photos

That's pretty much it. I don't have massive resources on my phone. I see no need to keep music/movies or an abundance of photos on my phone.

 

[warrior2000]

I am not saying that man. I am just saying you LOLOLOLOLOLOLLLLLOLOLL at the press predictions when clearly they were correct. You are cherry picking and its obvious what you do. But doesn't make the prediction wrong. Samsung is the largest smartphone maker in the world. They have overtaken apple (at least for now).

Dude. Learn to read.

When the press was making the prediction in 2013 Samsung was ALREADY selling the most phones. They were saying Samsung was going to steal the high end market from Apple.

 

[Bethanie21]

We were just there. Had a lot of fun. The Apple Store wasn't as awe inspiring as I expected, though the 9/11 memorial was breathtaking.

Enjoy!

Oh awesome and thank you we're planning on visiting the 9/11 memorial too and the usual touristy places (I'm from England and this will be the first time I've been to America and probably won't be going again for a few years - the flights are very expensive) I'm too excited to take my new phone though excited!

 

[Pez555]

Okay. I could get by with a 16GB phone. Here is what I use my phone for and I think I'm pretty similiar to many mainstream people:

Calls
Text
Stream music
Stream netflix
Stream TV shows
Podcasts
Web
email
couple dozen apps
Couple hundred photos

That's pretty much it. I don't have massive resources on my phone. I see no need to keep music/movies or an abundance of photos on my phone.

The main storage in my phone is actually pictures and videos (I have 5Gb worth and I'm always deleting too).

 

[warrior2000]

We were just there. Had a lot of fun. The Apple Store wasn't as awe inspiring as I expected, though the 9/11 memorial was breathtaking.

Enjoy!

I agree the Apple store in Manhatten was not to great. The cube entrance is nice, but once you got downstairs it seemed to dark like a cave.

 

[Surf Donkey]

Dude. Learn to read.

When the press was making the prediction in 2013 Samsung was ALREADY selling the most phones. They were saying Samsung was going to steal the high end market from Apple.

I read it, you never mentioned "high end" anywhere. Maybe you need to learn how to make a point, dude.

Where is this article that is wrong, please, I would like to read it.

Samsung WAS making more profit in 2013 as well. So I don't get your point at all.

 

[warrior2000]

I read it, you never mentioned "high end" anywhere. Maybe you need to learn how to make a point, dude.

Where is this article that is wrong, please, I would like to read it.

Samsung WAS making more profit in 2013 as well. So I don't get your point at all.

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/09/16/yacktman-samsung-is-going-to-eat-apples-lunch/
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1073471-look-out-apple-samsung-is-eating-your-smartphone-lunch
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/mannerisms/markets/samsung-eating-apples-tablet-l-2013-02/

 

[warrior2000]

All I'm saying is that 16gb for some casual users these days isn't enough. That is my ultimate point in all this.

Even 128GB isn't enough for some casual users who video their cat every day of the week.

 

[Surf Donkey]

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/09/16/yacktman-samsung-is-going-to-eat-apples-lunch/
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1073471-look-out-apple-samsung-is-eating-your-smartphone-lunch
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/mannerisms/markets/samsung-eating-apples-tablet-l-2013-02/

A hedge fund owner and two small blogs (from 2012, which turned out to be right on their 2013 prediction). Really showed me.... the press is so anti-apple it isn't funny!!

 

[lordofthereef]

All I'm saying is that 16gb for some casual users these days isn't enough. That is my ultimate point in all this.

I agree. My mom is ultimately a casual user and she has had to wipe her photos two times in her 16gb. She has gotten a 64gb this year.

 

[lordofthereef]

I agree but I wouldn't say it's larger than all the other portions of the population put together.

We can probably actually find out. {edit: in the US 25% of people are over the age of 50; that's not a small number or percentage} But it doesn't have to be largER, just large enough. Unsure why you seem to feel this must be an overwhelming majority for it to be a viable concern (unless in missing your point).

 

[AbSoluTc]

You just described my mom. I'm in agreement with you, but let's be careful what we imply about intelligence. Being iPhone illiterate doesn't mean someone "isn't bright". There is absolutely a generational gap. All that said, I am frustrated almost daily, but certainly weekly, by the "there is a moon at the top of my screen and I can't hear when I get calls", or some similar complaint lol.

Yeah, that's a question I get regularly. How do I fix this or that.

I should say that my wording was a bit wrong. It's not that they're not bright, it's just not their field of knowledge. I know it because it's what I do. Tech is my life. If I were to ask them about calculus or physics, they would blow my mind and speak greek to me because I have NO clue. So it goes both ways.

 

[AbSoluTc]

All I'm saying is that 16gb for some casual users these days isn't enough. That is my ultimate point in all this.

I agree but they either don't want to spend the money for more or say they don't do much and justify the smaller phone.

When they ask me if 16gb is good enough I say no. Why? Because most of them currently have said phone and are constantly coming to me and asking how to get free space again.

 

[Tsuchiya]

I agree. My mom is ultimately a casual user and she has had to wipe her photos two times in her 16gb. She has gotten a 64gb this year.

We had to upgrade our mums storage this year as well. her 32GB 4S was filled with mainly photos/videos. She literally has hours of footage from family events, sports days etc.

Alongside a 128GB 6, we made sure to enable iCloud photo library and pay for more online storage. She hadn't backed the 4S up once...since she got it in 2012!

Anyway, with regard to the thread title. It was a shrewd move by Apple, but it is down to the consumer to better educate themselves either way. Be realistic about your storage needs and seek advice before putting down that kind of cash. If you are on a budget but need an iPhone then consider a 64GB 6, or even 32GB 5S.

A casual user can need more than 16GB, just as someone who is relatively undemanding in their storage needs can make it work with less.

 

[lordofthereef]

We had to upgrade our mums storage this year as well. her 32GB 4S was filled with mainly photos/videos. She literally has hours of footage from family events, sports days etc.

Alongside a 128GB 6, we made sure to enable iCloud photo library and pay for more online storage. She hadn't backed the 4S up once...since she got it in 2012!

Anyway, with regard to the thread title. It was a shrewd move by Apple, but it is down to the consumer to better educate themselves either way. Be realistic about your storage needs and seek advice before putting down that kind of cash. If you are on a budget but need an iPhone then consider a 64GB 6, or even 32GB 5S.

A casual user can need more than 16GB, just as someone who is relatively undemanding in their storage needs can make it work with less.

Unsure if it's available where you are but you could look into Flickr photos (and video). 1TB free storage and you can set it to automatically back up on cellular, wifi, or both.

My wife, mother, and I actually share a single account (logged in once for my mom and she never had to mess with a thing) and we are able to seamlessly see he photos each of us takes. We don't need to do any sharing of any sort and we can choose to save photos taken from different devices locally should we want to do that.

I do also make it a point to back up photos to the Mac a couple of times a year, but I've been less worried about making sure that is done due to the amount of redundancy we now have in backups. My wife's phone actually recently got wiped when my son was playing with it (entered the password too many times and it's set to wipe flue to her work requiring it for exchange email) and she was stressed our beach pics would be gone. They all uploaded over LTE while we were at the beach so nothing disappeared!

 

[MH01]

again its buyer beware.

buy the phone that fits your lifestyle. This is like blaming BMW because the 325i does not fit a family of 6.

16GB works for me, even though i bought a 64GB

Actually it's like buying a bmw 325i and only sitting 2, 64gb gets you 4 people and 128 gets you 5 people and boot storage. All look intendical.

So, you will defend the 16GB as working for you, but decided to give apple an extra $100? You know 16Gb is a huge risk , hence you went 64.

 

[warrior2000]

Actually it's like buying a bmw 325i and only sitting 2, 64gb gets you 4 people and 128 gets you 5 people and boot storage. All look intendical.

So, you will defend the 16GB as working for you, but decided to give apple an extra $100? You know 16Gb is a huge risk , hence you went 64.

I'll have my phone for at least 12 more months, so I may need the storage eventually

 

[MH01]

This has been discussed at length deozens of times:

The 16GB model is for companies that buy thousands of phones for employees to check mails and look at powerpoint files. They do NOT want you to use 4K video and they do want to save 100 bucks per phone.

Then there are a few people who use the phone for email, websurfing, facetime and an occasional picture who don't take videos.

The rest should buy the 64GB model.

Am I missing something ? I have looked at all the apple iPhone 6S pages on apple.com and no where does apple state which phone a user should get. The 16GB for business is an excuse some apologist came up with .

Let's ignore apples business portal and focus on appLe.com iPhone, and tell me where the user is guided what model they should get.

Apple used to state how many minutes of video or how many images a storage capacity would get you, all gone. Read about the iPhone 6S there is not a single warning about a non business user getting a 64.... Fact of the matter apple just wants to sell any unit, and people trusting apple are more than happy to buy the cheapest, expecting it to just work.

 

[MH01]

I'll have my phone for at least 12 more months, so I may need the storage eventually

So you acknowledge the new upgrades, and resulting larger files, warrant an upgrade to be safe? 12+ month ownership is hardly uncommon for average users

 

[BlueDragon22]

I ordered a 16GB this time around due to my tight budget (hopefully going to a 7 64GB next year depending on the design and my bank account). I've survived with 16GB in the past and I'm going to try to do it a third time.

I really don't have a problem with 16GB (12GB) except for my music and photos. This time, I'm going to try storing my library on Google Play Music and then streaming from there. Same with my photos - I'll use Amazon Cloud Drive (which gives me unlimited photo storage w/ prime) to back up my pics. I don't install tons apps, just the basic "necessities" - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. The problem I've faced with my 12GB phones in the past is iMessages hogging up space. I don't delete my texts that often, so that's one thing I'll need to get used to.

Back to the 4K video topic - I'm interested to see what'll happen. I don't record videos that often unless I'm at a concert or some event. Even then, I most likely wouldn't use 4K recording. I've had my Droid Turbo for almost a year now and I've never even used 4K recording.

 

[gadget123]

Regarding 4K video one would imagine it can be down scaled. In IOS9 you can pick the resolution on the 6 and 6 plus only. The S model should surely offer a similar feature?

 

[MH01]

Regarding 4K video one would imagine it can be down scaled. In IOS9 you can pick the resolution on the 6 and 6 plus only. The S model should surely offer a similar feature?

Yeah you get a choice what resolution to record in. I'm not sure what the default is.

 

[Mac 128]

But if you're only using the phone for basic stuff you could have gotten something much cheaper like a Moto G

Or, for $100 less, keep it in the Apple ecosystem and get the iPhone 6. It's basically the same phone. Of course if they want it in gold, they will need to pay the $100 gold premium, which in my opinion is the only reason the 16GB 6S exists -- since anybody planning to take advantage of the 12MP camera, and 4K video is going to want as much storage as possible.

 

[Max(IT)]

It's a buy or move on situation.

Not if you have spent a lot of money in Apple 's ecosystem...

32GB really isn't enough for someone looking to shoot 4K and live photos.

It is in most of the cases.
And it is enough for people working with the phone even without shooting photos or videos....
16 Gb aren't ....

What people fail to realize is the 16GB phone is an absolute bargain.

We all know that flash memory is much cheaper than what Apple charges to upgrade to 64/128. They make about 90% margin on those upgrades of $100 and $200.

Simple math shows if thats the case the 16GB is the best deal.

Base on court documents the iPhone has about a 45-55% gross margin rate.

16GB phone
Sale price: $650
Cost of sale: $325
Gross Margin: $325
Gross Margin: 50%

Now lets ad memory at 90% margin

64GB phone
Sale price: $750
Cost of sale base phone: $325
Cost of incremental memory: $10
Gross Margin: $415
Gross Margin: 55%

128GB phone
Sale Price: $850
Cost of incremental memory: $15
Gross Margin: $510
Gross Margin: 60%

So the 16GB phone is actually the best deal since its gross margin is the lowest at 50%. So peoples solution is to make an even BETTER deal? LOL. Am i missing something?

Who cares about margins?
We are users, not shareholders.
Apple has plenty of margins on this devices...

My guess is you don't buy the 16GB model if you are planning on making a 4K movie on your phone. Break down spend the extra hundred bucks and get the 64GB model if you want to do that kind of stuff.

Yes, but if you OCCASIONALLY take shoots and videos, you could be in trouble with only 16 Gb (supposing to have 4-5 Gb free) but you would be ok with a 32 Gb model ...


Seriously dude, I can't understand how can you defend Apple on this.
And I'm a big Apple supporter.

 

[Max(IT)]

Other companies are catering because they are DESPERATE.

There will always be complaints by cheapskates.

If Apple started the line at 32GB then Samsung would probably start at 64GB and the tech media would still say Apple is cheap. Apple will not play that game. They will not do a race to the bottom like all those Android companies.

Even if Apple started at 128GB they would still complain and say the iPhone should not be $650 but $400 like Android phones.

Lets face it. Some people can't have nice things.

Again, I don't care about Samsung.
I wouldn't buy a Samsung 's phone even with 256 Gb of storage.
I care about user experience, and today 16 Gb isn't enough even for basic usage in my opinion.

All I'm saying is that 16gb for some casual users these days isn't enough. That is my ultimate point in all this.

I absolutely agree with you.