Apple should give user expandable memory for iPhone 5

[ixodes]

I was checking how much those 64 gb microSD are costing, and it's dirt cheap. Even 128 gb ( 2 x 64 gb ) is alot cheaper than the upgrade of 16 gb --> 64 gb that Apple gives you.

The iPhone 5 better have user expandable memory because Apple is ripping everybody off with their outrageous overpriced memory upgrade.

Apple didn't get to where they are by offering value in upgrades.

It's a highly profitable way to increase profits. It also works beautifully since many people are happy to pay for convenience, nor are they aware of component pricing like we are.

Personally I like that they do that. The increases in profits makes my long held Apple stock, even more valuable

 

[blairh]

The iPhone will never offer user expandable memory. People coming on here saying 'it better this fall' are giving me a good laugh. Look how well Apple has done by not offering this option.

8/16/32/64 GB is enough for most consumers. I expect will we see a 96 or 128 GB iPhone in the next 2-4 years.

 

[rjohnstone]

There is an installation fee here. Again, compare apples to apples. Buy the chip elsewhere AND have it installed by their team. Saying you can buy the chip and install it yourself for $50 is not a very good comparison IMO.

They are installing the RAM at that price as well? I keep using the apples to apples reference. Let's take a company like Best Buy. They will install the ram for you in store for $50 or come to your home and do it for $150. That AND the 8GB of RAM in store would run you $50-80 dependent on certain variables (speeds, etc.).

Apple charges $200 per 4GB memory stick... installation NOT included.
Installing memory in an iMac is so easy even my 9 year old could do it.
Two screws and two pull tabs.

If anyone does decide to get @$$ raped by Apple for a memory upgrade, make sure they ship you the Samsung modules and not the crappy Hynix ones.
Took me 3 trips to the Apple store before they figured it was the Hynix memory that was causing the machine to crash. They gave me new Hynix chips and it still crapped out. So I binned them and got 4 new 4GB OEM Samsung chips (Same chips right down to the part number that Apple uses) for $39 each from Amazon.com and no more crashing.
That's $156 for 16GB of ram vs $800 for 16GB from Apple. Only a moron would pay that kind of money for memory.

If you are shopping places like newegg or Tiger Direct you are always going to get the bargain price as well. I think Apple's prices (speaking about RAM upgrades) are basically on par to the local big box stores. I do believe their warranty is also all encompassing of everything they (Apple) install for you.

Apple is the most expensive place to buy memory from... they are not on par with any big box retailer. I have yet to see a $200 4GB memory module in any Best Buy or similar store. Ok... 5+ years ago maybe, but today... $30-$40 seems to be the going rate for a brand name 4GB memory stick.

 

[Vundu]

Adding a slot for a micro-sim would take up space. Not going to happen.

You think that is really the reason?

The reason is like already mentioned so they can sell different models and make top dollar for them.

 

[KevShallPerish]

Adding a slot for a micro-sim would take up space. Not going to happen.

MicroSD*

 

[Axne1]

They need to increase iCloud capabilities for sure. Bring on iOS 6!

 

[lordofthereef]

Apple charges $200 per 4GB memory stick... installation NOT included.
Installing memory in an iMac is so easy even my 9 year old could do it.
Two screws and two pull tabs.

So you order your Mac, say you want 8GB RAM upgrade and they sell you the additional memory stick with your Mac? I was under the impression that it came installed with your Mac...

I do realize it is easy, but there are people out there to pay to have antivirus installed for them. Installation services are tailored towards people that don't want to and/or don't know how to do it themselves.

 

[old-wiz]

MicroSD*

oops..right...brain fart this morning.

 

[cyks]

So you order your Mac, say you want 8GB RAM upgrade and they sell you the additional memory stick with your Mac? I was under the impression that it came installed with your Mac...

I do realize it is easy, but there are people out there to pay to have antivirus installed for them. Installation services are tailored towards people that don't want to and/or don't know how to do it themselves.

If you order it when you're ordering your computer, yes, they'll install it for you.

If you already have a computer, want to upgrade the RAM yourself, and go to and Apple store (or order it from them online) it will still be 3-4x more expensive than could be purchased elsewhere....so no 'installation fee' in involved.

 

[lordofthereef]

If you order it when you're ordering your computer, yes, they'll install it for you.

If you already have a computer, want to upgrade the RAM yourself, and go to and Apple store (or order it from them online) it will still be 3-4x more expensive than could be purchased elsewhere....so no 'installation fee' in involved.

This is what I thought. So, technically speaking, it includes installation if ordered a certain way, but not another.

All this says to me is "we are not a computer hardware component store". If you want to buy from them, and all you are grabbing is said stick of ram, you are paying a hefty convenience fee.

EDIT: I just got on Apple's live chat. They claim if you buy the RAM from them and show proof of receipt the genius bar will install it for you at no additional cost.

 

[kdarling]

The built in SSD in iPhones is roughly 70MB/s read 40MB/sec write. That'd be the equivilant of a 500x (or 70) rated MicroSD....something you're not going to find.

I've read other articles that said this, yet when I ran the Passmark benchmark app on my iPod 4G and got around 20MBps. It came out around the same for the Galaxy Nexus.

I know the iPhone 4S is faster, but I'm not sure by how much for file operations.

I'm also beginning to wonder if the higher memory iOS devices are interleaving the reads and getting a big boost. I.e. a 32GB phone would be faster reading than a 8/16GB phone is.

Can someone please run the Passmark app disk benchmark and tell us what you get?

Thanks!

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

First off, Apple would make memory cards proprietary and charge 10x the cost of the average SD(mini) card. Then you'll be forced to get an adapter for your PC or Mac(except for future macs). They would probably lock the card down, disallowing you to format differently. Also they would make it hard for the iPhone to recognize any cheap knock-offs. And lastly, Apple will have control on what type of files gets transferred back n forth from iPhone to card, unless you jailbreak.

I rather not deal with all that. I'll be getting a 64gb, that's more than enough for me.

 

[b166er]

Of all the features worth wishing for, this one is really not even on apple's radar. It's not worth speculating because we all know apple will never do it. It compromises their design philosophy amongst several other things. If they didn't do it when the iPhone was larger and the technology was widely used they won't do it now when the goal is on smaller/thinner phones and SD cards are kind of entering their golden years. They will be around a long time for cameras no doubt, but I imagine not much else

I agree their cost for storage is high, but a wise man once said "that's how they getchya"

I still have/use my old iPod for music in the car and that leaves my phone with a lot more space. Add in photo stream and some other services and immnot even using all that much space any more. That's just me though.

 

[FallenAnjel]

Yeah definitely.

I don't know how they can even justify the prices they charge. 64GB is £100 than 32GB and 32GB is £100 more than 16GB. They're selling 16GB and 32GB storage for the same price - £100 - both of which are massively overpriced.

You can expand the memory in Apple iPHone?

 

[matttye]

You can expand the memory in Apple iPHone?

Not at the moment.

 

[Vegastouch]

Of all the features worth wishing for, this one is really not even on apple's radar. It's not worth speculating because we all know apple will never do it. It compromises their design philosophy amongst several other things. If they didn't do it when the iPhone was larger and the technology was widely used they won't do it now when the goal is on smaller/thinner phones and SD cards are kind of entering their golden years. They will be around a long time for cameras no doubt, but I imagine not much else

I agree their cost for storage is high, but a wise man once said "that's how they getchya"

I still have/use my old iPod for music in the car and that leaves my phone with a lot more space. Add in photo stream and some other services and immnot even using all that much space any more. That's just me though.

That has nothing to do with it. The GS3 is thinner than the iPhone and obviously it has a microsd slot . These lame excuses of it is aiming to be thinner and it will take up space for other things is total BS. A microsd card is so small it hardly take up any space.
As for the micro cards entering their golden years...LOL, they just came out with some on May 30th that are twice as fast as the current class 10 micro cards. They are 45 MB read and 40 MB write speed. They arent going away.

 

[Major.Robto]

Apples flash is so much faster then micro sd cards.

My Berry has a mico sd card and it takes for ever to load files from it to the computer or vise versa.

Last week I moved to my phone Pink floyd - The wall, and it took three hours. Its a stupid class 2 mem card.


Honestly also I notice micro SD cards will get errors faster then anything in the world.

I have a ds with a special card and it takes a Micro SD, I have to format the card once a week because the errors get so bad.

Micro SD cards are still pricey.

Now also 16 gb is good for most people who know nothing about phones or teens.
Now 32Gb is good for most people who have a bit of music and what not.
64 is for the power users.

Theres no cards to mess with, no cards being lost, no cards being stolen also. Thats a thing I noticed when some one was checking my phone out, they stole my micro SD, at least it was just a one gig, and there was nothing on it besides a few pictures.

There is no need for micosd cards they are a pain in the rear.

 

[b166er]

That has nothing to do with it. The GS3 is thinner than the iPhone and obviously it has a microsd slot . These lame excuses of it is aiming to be thinner and it will take up space for other things is total BS. A microsd card is so small it hardly take up any space.
As for the micro cards entering their golden years...LOL, they just came out with some on May 30th that are twice as fast as the current class 10 micro cards. They are 45 MB read and 40 MB write speed. They arent going away.

But a micro slot DOES go against more or less all of their design philosophies. And yeah micro sd will be here a while but my point is apple isn't going to invest in the idea since they are already so old. Apple sees new tech, waits a couple years to see what other companies are doing wrong, then they implement it themselves to the best of their ability.

I'm not saying its fair or unfair, right or wrong, I'm saying it's apple. And people who don't get that have a variety of other choices in storage and phones.

 

[JAT]

I've read other articles that said this, yet when I ran the Passmark benchmark app on my iPod 4G and got around 20MBps. It came out around the same for the Galaxy Nexus.

I know the iPhone 4S is faster, but I'm not sure by how much for file operations.

I'm also beginning to wonder if the higher memory iOS devices are interleaving the reads and getting a big boost. I.e. a 32GB phone would be faster reading than a 8/16GB phone is.

Can someone please run the Passmark app disk benchmark and tell us what you get?

Thanks!

Disk:
16.2MBps write
19.8 read

Memory:
210 write
166 read

i4 32GB Verizon

----------

First off, Apple would make memory cards proprietary and charge 10x the cost of the average SD(mini) card. Then you'll be forced to get an adapter for your PC or Mac(except for future macs). They would probably lock the card down, disallowing you to format differently. Also they would make it hard for the iPhone to recognize any cheap knock-offs. And lastly, Apple will have control on what type of files gets transferred back n forth from iPhone to card, unless you jailbreak.

I rather not deal with all that. I'll be getting a 64gb, that's more than enough for me.

I find I have to use the device to format any card I'm about to use, anyway. Cameras, mp3 players, phones, etc. Many brands tried. Otherwise it has issues.

 

[kdarling]

Disk:
16.2MBps write
19.8 read
...
i4 32GB Verizon

Thank you very much for that Passmark test result. (If anyone can run the Passmark benchmark test on a latest device, that would be helpful too.)

It seems with that and the testing I've done on (admittedly older) iPods and iPads that their internal Flash access is about the same speed as Class 10 microSD.

Apple did recently buy Anobit, who makes Flash controllers intended for speed and longevity, so I think we can expect improvements with newer devices. Samsung has also recently announced Flash with a 60MBps read speed.

Apples flash is so much faster then micro sd cards.

That idea is up in the air so far. See above.

Last week I moved to my phone Pink floyd - The wall, and it took three hours. Its a stupid class 2 mem card.

You used a slow card. What did you expect?

Honestly also I notice micro SD cards will get errors faster then anything in the world.

Apparently there are tons of imitation cards out there, plus there are even some legitimate makers whose cheap cards are junk. Sounds like you have one of those.

Thats a thing I noticed when some one was checking my phone out, they stole my micro SD, at least it was just a one gig, and there was nothing on it besides a few pictures.

You cannot blame microSD for the quality of the people you give your phone to.

 

[JAT]

That idea is up in the air so far. See above.

It's been my impression that many devices seem to lag a bit accessing SD cards. And I wouldn't attribute that to the card's speed capability. So I wonder how the OS and other latency factors might contribute.

Similar to Firewire vs USB2.

OTOH, my C. Crane mp3 recorder is faster accessing SD than its internal memory. By a very noticeable timeframe.

 

[sentinelsx]

IMO with the 64GB option given by Apple there is little need for expandable memory. 16 or 32 sure, but 64GB for a portable device is quite good and i am sure in the future they might introduce 128 or more in a couple years or later.

 

[cyks]

IMO with the 64GB option given by Apple there is little need for expandable memory. 16 or 32 sure, but 64GB for a portable device is quite good and i am sure in the future they might introduce 128 or more in a couple years or later.

Yeah, since there's nothing better (for Apple) than to have to buy an iPod Classic in addition to an iPhone to carry your music with you.

It may seem massive to you, but between apps, music, and video, 64GB is not a lot of space.

 

[sentinelsx]

Yeah, since there's nothing better (for Apple) than to have to buy an iPod Classic in addition to an iPhone to carry your music with you.

It may seem massive to you, but between apps, music, and video, 64GB is not a lot of space.

Yeah i agree but it is miles better than the paltry 8 and 16 GB options many new phones are coming with nowadays with the cloud bone thrown in.

 

[blairh]

Does a microSD card take a long time for media to load onto? Is there lag when you play music off the SD card?