From what I've seen from a fairly large sample size of average users (even people with Ph. D's as I work at a university) they don't think that they are a "high end" user so 16GB will be fine.
You know how most people think they are "over average", even though that's impossible, right? Same thing about not being "high end".
"You pay for things either with money or with time - or with both if you are unlucky or too cheap. So, choose your poison.". That's what I tell anyone who asks for my advice.
Then they end up using the device as intended and quickly run out of space.
As intended… by someone who didn't really check what s/he is buying and how s/he will use it. Mhm.
Install a few apps, maybe a game or two, take photos and shoot a few videos and you're done. You're out. You get a warning box that repeatedly tells you your phone is out of space. They wonder how this happened and I have to offload their files for them because many don't even use computers any more. Now I have these same people starting to tell me they want a phone with expandable storage because their "already expensive compared to Android base model iPhone" isn't good enough and they can't justify another $100 on top of it. Others really like their Apple device but are still mad at the company and are past their return window so they're stuck. These are just normal people, unlike 90% of the people who typically comment here. So IMO, it's not worth the bad will that Apple is getting from customers and potential future losses vs. spending slightly more to spring for the 32GB model.
I don't have the statistics, so I guess only Apple knows how these things evolve. But since having 32 GB will only delay the problem, instead of getting rid of it, I fail to see how that really helps in the long run - if anything, it hides the problem for a longer time.
The user NEEDS to have an strategy to empty the phone's memory: iCloud/DropBox/Facebook/whateverOnAStick + beefy internet, or connection to the computer. Full stop.
No offense, but that's not how you deal with people in the real world.
I wonder then in what world I have been living for the last 10 years.
I can't tell my boss or coworkers to go "fsck" herself as you so eloquently put it, or my mom and grandma, or my best friends.
If your boss is paying you to do that, well hell, of course you have to do what you're paid to do, no?
All the rest? Sure as hell I tell them. Clearly enough, too. Less problems for me, AND FOR THEM, at the very least in the mid- and long-run. I can't support everyone even if I wanted to; I need them to help me support them. If they get too complicated, I explain it and drop them. I can't do more. Sorry.
Note that what I am doing is EDUCATING them all. I can't give fishes indefinitely, but I can (try to) teach fishing, AND teach why sources of cheap fish are risky.
Just so you get an idea: my parents got the cheapest android phones. I gave up on trying to help each of them and bought them an iPad. I do my best to support them on the iPad; they can do whatever sh*t they want in their phones. At least I managed to make them get their phones in a nearby shop where staff will help them with whatever simple problems they have.
I routinely remind them that they shouldn't do anything security-related with their phones, for that, go to the iPad.
These are just normal people. When I tell them to get more, they think "we'll you're a tech guy so you would say that."
So, they don't follow your advice. Bad for them. Why did they even ask you then?
I do explain WHAT are the problems that they WILL find if they don't follow my advice. That way, when it happens, they already know where they stand, and what will happen if they still seek my help.
Sure, after these problems they now get the message. But still it's an issue I have to deal with a lot. Especially since I did a lot of evangelizing on Apple's behalf. And Apple shouldn't put a 4K camera into a 16GB device, which as someone pointed out above ships with 9.9GB available. Mere minutes of video! Lame.
Lame is someone who paid to record more than "mere minutes of video" in a device with a 4K camera with less than 16 GB of storage. No, not lame. Loser is the word.
I take it you don't have kids. Lots of videos happening.
No, I don't have them. And yet, I got a 32 GB device. Because I imagined what could happen if I *ever* wanted to record long videos while having lots of music and lots of apps.
As for your Mercedes analogy, that sounds like a straw man argument. If that argument were valid then the iPhone would have replaceable storage and my original complaint would be complaining about the price of Micro SD cards.
A more apt analogy (fitting within the guidelines of your comparison) would be if Mercedes made only one car. They all have the same features and functionality. But one comes with a 3 gallon tank, one with a 12 gallon tank, and one with a 24 gallon tank. But because of the way the car is engineered, the usable space of each tank is only 2 gallons, 11 gallons and 23 gallons. And every time you run out, you have to fill up directly from an even bigger car. Yeah, a car with a 2 gallon tank would be pretty annoying. But otherwise it looks like a beautiful Mercedes with all the bells and whistles.
And you know what? If you are sure that you are going to only use that beautiful car in very short trips, it'd be perfect: enough fuel + not carrying around all the extra weight of the big, full tank (which means greater fuel economy) + more space saved (larger trunk? smaller shape? whatever). How many people or companies only use a car in short trips in the city?
Wouldn't a 2 gallon tank kind of ruin the whole experience?
If your "experience" counted on using more than 2 gallons in a trip, then, yes. Duh.
Well you might say people shouldn't be dumb and just buy the more expensive models…and yet Mercedes (Apple) still sells them. The Mercedes base model (iPhone 6s 16GB $649) starts at $39,000. The next level up is 15.5% more expensive at $45,000 (iPhone 6s 64GB $749). Meanwhile people can buy a Chevy (Android) for half the price with twice the fuel tank. Sure, it's not as nice at all, but it gets them around town without constantly running out of gas. That's the core of the problem here. Apple needs a usable base model with storage that matches the high end features. The 6s is a hell of a phone and I love mine, but 16GB really hampers it and lessens the fantastic Apple experience. Does where I'm coming from make sense?
No, to me, no.
I can only boil down your argument to "people buy the cheapest without knowing what they are getting into, poor them, Apple needs to save them from themselves". I don't really see how can that work.
In fact, in a way, you could say that Apple is already saving them from getting an un-updateable Android.
It's also not about people being fools because they aren't as educated as you and I about technology. Apple must design experiences that just work. That includes hardware design. The original iPhone came in 16GB capacity and couldn't even take video and had a 2mp camera. The 6s will be on sale through much of 2016, nine years later. It's completely ridiculous, and only the most ridiculous Apple fans would argue otherwise.
Why thanks!
Even I have been called a fanboy more times than I can count.
Well, sure you don't seem to have a problem qualifying other people either.
But on the forums everything is black and white, either I'm an Apple hater or a raving fanatic. In the real world I'm practical. And as I told a guy above you, I think most people agree when you look at the upvotes on my original comment. Never before have I received that many. I couldn't believe it when I logged in this afternoon and saw so many notifications at the top!
Hey, congrats! Keep up the good work!
/s