Apple's 64GB Era is Over

[KPOM]

Has it really been that long? Damn, Apple's cheap. Gotta protect those margins, I guess.

Will 128GB serve as the base storage config for iPads and iPhones for the next 7-8 years too?

I have 83GB used on my iPhone 16 Pro.

 

[KPOM]

I remember having a conversation with someone decades ago, in which we were both marveling over the fact that 10 megabyte hard drives were now available, and one of us said "And I hear they're releasing a 20 megabyte drive soon too!" We both felt like "And what's next? We land a starship on Antares??"

My first computer had only a 5.25” floppy drive. But it had a 7.16 MHz processor. 50% faster than an IBM PC!

 

[baconcat_8964]

Introducing the MacBook Air M5, with 64GB base storage

macOS will takes 25GB.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Time to end the 128GB era, as well, or just be honest and tell people you can't run more than a couple of apps on the 128GB phones.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

My first computer had a 40 MB hard drive. I remember upgrading it to 200 MB, installing every game I owned on it, and actively searched for more games just to use all that free space for something.

Meanwhile now having about a terabyte is useless.

 

[svish]

Very happy to see all the models now start at 128 GB. Expecting the smaller Pro to have 256GB as a starting point this year. Now waiting for Macs to have 512 GB as base storage.

 

[ThomasJL]

The first iPhone with 64GB was the iPhone 4s, released in 2011. So from 2011 to 2025, Apple sold iPhones with 64GB. Tim Crook is greedy and also not a product person.

 

[JosephAW]

We remember the iPhone 5c 8gb devices. 📱

 

[FlyingDutch]

Well, 128 GB could be enough for models like iPhone 16/16e and iPad 11th gen, but for the more expensive Air it should be 256 GB

 

[hans1972]

I'm using 54.29 Gb on my iPhone 14 Pro. I have refused to clean up my messages, podcast and anything it suggest to reduce storage used because I want to use more, but it's so difficult.

Any tips on how to use more?

 

[hans1972]

But the 5GB iCloud era remains.

Of course, for a service fee, Apple can help with that.

More storage has value. If something has more value, you should expect to pay more.

Tip: If you want to be a happy Apple customer, pay!

 

[applefan8254]

The apple watch is still 64gb. Hopefully they release a 128gb version this year.

 

[hans1972]

Unless you have icloud… it’s really not. Not really sure why Apple always lags behind on hardware… and charges more. Starting to reach my wits end with Apple.

(Almost) Every iPhone or iPad user who wants to be happy, should use iCloud for storage.

 

[johnsawyercjs]

I'm using 54.29 Gb on my iPhone 14 Pro. I have refused to clean up my messages, podcast and anything it suggest to reduce storage used because I want to use more, but it's so difficult.

Any tips on how to use more?

Take a lot of long videos of your kids, nephews, nieces, and other relatives, and just about anybody else too, live bands, cats, dogs, shellfish, etc., and don't delete them since you might want to watch them on your phone when you're out and about again sometime. But back them up onto your Mac too, and then back that up to an external SSD, and iCloud, but remember not to delete them from your iPhone, since you can treat that as another backup too, just in case.

Ask me how I know.

 

[hans1972]

And yet iCloud is still 5 gigs.

And as always you can pay just a $13-$40 a year to get decent iCloud storage. Think of it has gas cast for a car.

 

[Populus]

Great, now have Macs (air and mini especially) start at 512 GB. The 12” MacBook started at that and I hoped it was the start of a trend, but it remains a frustrating one-off for low end Macs.

Now that you mention the 12” MacBook, if today Apple releases the M4 MBA in a 12” size, I’m ordering one immediately.

 

[Veinticinco]

Only about 7 years late. Ahead of the curve as always.

 

[DanneP]

Unless you have icloud… it’s really not. Not really sure why Apple always lags behind on hardware… and charges more. Starting to reach my wits end with Apple.

Come on. For the vast majority of the iPhone users 128GB is more than enough. If you’re one of those who has tens of thousands of photos, often films in 4K 60fps or play a lot of games you could opt for a larger storage. That is exactly what these upgrades are for.

Are the upgrades priced fairly? Probably not, but without those Apple are raising prices somewhere else. There is no free lunch.

But one thing’s sure, 128GB is enough for most people, and therefore it’s a reasonable base storage size.

 

[djgamble]

There were times when that was enough... Time flies and life changes …and the smallest capacity of 128 seems very small these days too

There was a time when 'iOS' and 'System Data' did not take up an aggregate 23.5GB of your drive.

Heck there was a day when MacOS had things called 'extensions' that you could disable and throw out if you chose not to use a system function? Sure... security nowadays. However, things like deleting Siri are not gonna kill your security.

 

[DrJR]

But at least they took time to ask “is 128Gb too much?” Or “can the average consumer handle it?”

They didn’t rush into this all “willy-nilly” and I can respect that.

 

[MVMNT]

Media is intrinsically bigger too.

 

[Veinticinco]

I wish Apple’s Tim Cook Era was over.

 

[StuBeck]

Unless you have icloud… it’s really not. Not really sure why Apple always lags behind on hardware… and charges more. Starting to reach my wits end with Apple.

Profits. Thats why. They can also state that an item starts at "X" price without actually expecting anyone to buy that one.

 

[elrojo69]

Its amazing how much you have to pay up for more storage in apple products considering how cheap storage has become.

 

[topocalypse]

i just bought the 64gb 3 months ago