'iPhone 6s' Logic Board Suggests 16GB Base Model and Updated NFC Hardware

[JeffyTheQuik]

Apple should make the entry level 32GB but there's one reason the probably won't: they don't want a bunch of downgrades from 64GB owners. Neil Cybart who runs the Apple centric site Above Avalon claims that keeping the entry level storage at 16Gb is saving Apple $3B.

Respectfully, I think that they want to push the cloud storage...

Base Model (16Gb or 32 GB) - $199 with contract
Next up (64GB or 128GB) - $299 with contract
Top (128GB or 256GB) - $399 with contract

So, for the $100 of lost revenue, they'll get an increase of a certain number of people that will buy the iCloud increased storage, and let's say the average is $5/month, which equates to $120 over the 2 year contract.

This offers two benefits:
- $20 of additional revenue
- onboarding of people into iCloud storage, so when they get another phone, they are locked into the ecosystem.

For the customer, they're not forced to shell out an additional $100-200 for a phone that they're going to use to shoot pictures, and when they get that new phone, their pictures are already there.

 

[ToroidalZeus]

I mean the corruption of the Apple ethos set by Steve Jobs.

It's not about money. It's about the fact that Jobs set high standards with the iPhone that meant certain minimum requirements. It's a question of balancing the ROI with making an outstanding phone.

With Tim Cook, the balance has tipped too much to the ROI rather than the outstanding product. That is due to corruption, because Cook cannot fundamentally understand why these little details matter. Therefore, he gets the balance wrong.

what's really ironic too is that every single time Apple gets criticized Tim Cook is right out there apologizing: Apple Maps, Innovation, Taylor Swift, etc.

this tells me he doesn't have the balls to make good decisions himself and relies too much on the judgement of others. def not the right person to lead Apple.

 

[sunking101]

or they are rewarding those who previously bought 32gb with a nice 64gb

always another way to look at things

That isn't any reward at all if you don't need it and will never use it. I bought 32GB last time and 64 this time, but only because 32GB wasn't available. I will never use more than 32GB so Apple gave me nothing for free. It's like an accessory I don't want which is kept at the back of a cupboard somewhere. The only people who gained from this are those who used to buy 64GB even when the old 32GB storage tier was available.

 

[Rogi]

In few words: Apple doesn't care.

 

[Zxxv]

That isn't any reward at all if you don't need it and will never use it. I bought 32GB last time and 64 this time, but only because 32GB wasn't available. I will never use more than 32GB so Apple gave me nothing for free. It's like an accessory I don't want which is kept at the back of a cupboard somewhere. The only people who gained from this are those who used to buy 64GB even when the old 32GB storage tier was available.

or those who came close to using all of 32gb

again,

there is always another way to look at it

 

[sunking101]

What everyone complaining about 16GB storage is really complaining about is that the iphone is $100 too expensive.

No. They're complaining that Apple haven't moved with the times. 32GB should be the base storage level and you shouldn't have to pay an additional $100 to get 2015 specs.
You're using negative spin to say the same thing. Nobody minds paying top-dollar for a top product. Being shortchanged by a greedy company rubs people up the wrong way, no matter how wealthy they are.

 

[JGowan]

Wow,so per your example, if you bought THE LOWEST standard definition movies from Itunes that you listed,Avatar, The Hobbit 1, The Hobbit 2, The Hobbit 3, Harry Potter 1, Harry Potter 2, Harry Potter 3.
You would use 17.47gb of storage. Since a Iphone 16gb only has 12gb of usable storage you could not get all the movies you listed to fit,let alone all 7 of those movies PLUS 207 songs and 111 photos. you could fit 5 of the movies......barely and have zero apps,zero photos and zero music.
Doesn't sound very realistic.

I never said I bought them from iTunes -- I ripped them with Handbrake, oh ye of little faith.

 

[sixstrings03]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but my concern with the 16GB iPhone 6s is tied directly to the new great camera.

It seems like these are features that are at odds with each other. I agree that not everyone is entitled to the top of the line specs from Apple, but my interpretation of it "just working" is that you get everything you need to use each feature of the phone.

If you're the quintissential non-power-user, you haven't done enough research to even know what you'd want to the use the phone for, and so you dip your toes in with the base model. Then you begin using it for photos, and all of a sudden it's absolutely full.

At this point you can't expand the memory, so you're screwed with not being able to use it for even a basic amount of photo and video taking (grand kids, etc).

If they stay with the 16GB model, they should at least have a downgraded camera system for that phone, as well, and sell it similarly to how they positioned the 5C. Nothing is worse than being surprised by your new smartphone running out of space and not being able to do anything about it but wait 2 years.

Secondly, Apple should remove all constraints they can to allow more people to buy apps. If it truly is only $5 more per phone to make the base level a 32GB, it seems like they are sacrificing user experience as well as app volume.

 

[jigzaw]

One of the reasons this annoys me, aside from it being a joke to offer a 16 gig phone in 2015, about which Apple SHOULD be embarrassed enough to not do... is the camera. I thought maybe there was something to this 4K thing and a hugely improved camera, but if the iPhone still starts at 16 gigs then there is no way that model can support this kind of camera and odds are they will keep the camera for all models a little hobbled due to the 16 gig base model. I now do not believe any 4K is coming with the 6S. No way they'd do that with a 16 gig model.

 

[Michael Goff]

Face it, iPhones just aren't worth the money anymore. If you were about to buy your first ever smartphone would you really choose Apple? Seriously? I know we're all locked into the 'ecosystem' and have a ton of paid-for apps but if all that was erased, what exactly is the draw here? It seems to be a company trading on former glories.

Early iPhones, especially the iPhone 4, were superb. Build quality was light years ahead of the competition and the feature set was as good as anyone else could muster, but with a sprinkling of gold on top. Ever since then there have been a succession of lacklustre devices and none more so that the iPhone 6 and especially 6+. Now we have plenty of folk aggressively defending 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM on what is touted as the world's best smartphone. The competition has not only caught up, they have moved onwards and upwards. iPhones have old-tech LCD screens, a pathetic amount of RAM, and piddling storage space unless you spend hundreds more dollars on top of what is already the most expensive phone you can buy.

All of Apple's premium smartphone competitors now offer the same if not better build quality, along with proper up to date technical specifications. The one saving grace that Apple had, namely iOS, is now a buggy and stuttering mess compared to how it once was. Android has caught up in every respect and yet still we have folk defending lousy specs and buggy operating systems. Why?

Plenty of people disagree with you.

 

[marty11]

I'm more interested in the A9 processor, which will once again be the world's most advanced ARM mobile chip.

And stop whining about 16GB already. In our family I've had several 16GB phones and they were always enough. My personal iPhone is 64GB because I actually need the extra storage. Lots of people don't need more than 16GB, so stop thinking Apple has to change the base model because of what **YOU** need, instead of what the average consumer needs.

So you're saying *****YOU****** have family members who got by just fine on 16 GB, so Apple should continue to design products around your needs.

Got it.

 

[marty1980]

While many have complained 16GB is not enough entry-level storage as HD video and space-hungry apps have proliferated, recently Apple SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller claimed the company's cloud-focused services, like the just-launched Apple Music, help alleviate some of the storage stresses on low-end storage configurations. Other changes with iOS 9 such as smaller iOS update sizes and app thinning to load only the app assets needed for a particular device, will also help trim down storage needs.

App Thinning is nice and the most significant effort made to improve storage use. However, it is not enough to just trim apps, nor is it reasonable to assume iCloud and other "cloud" services make up for lack of local storage.

Apple (and supporters) argue that people can live in the confines of 16GB using cloud services. While this is true, we're talking a very small number of iPhone users.

The low-end model is only satisfying ~10% of Apple's customer-base. While the other 90% will be heavily tempted to upgrade to the next level, which is 64GB.

Sure, you could use cloud storage to offset local storage, but...

• Do you want to sit around and wait for a 5 minute, 1080p video to upload to Dropbox before you can delete it, so that you will have enough storage to record more video?
  
  
• Do you want to show a friend or family member a photo, but have to find it while waiting for the images to all load from a terrible or non-existent cellular connection?
  
  
• Do you want to try to watch an online video, but it keeps buffering instead of playing due to a bad cellular data connection?
  
  
• Do you want to try to watch a video you own, but can't because it's in the cloud and you don't have enough data left on your cellular plan to watch it?

This is just a short list of various scenarios where low storage and the cloud will fail to provide a smooth experience.

All of this could be easily remedied by Apple upgrading the storage in low-end iPhone models to 32GB. The cost difference is so minimal that Apple won't notice on their books, but customers will surely notice when they buy an iPhone and stop running into so many "out of storage" errors.

If Apple releases the 2015 iPhones with 16GB minimal option, I might just lose my mind. By the time they upgrade to 32GB, it won't be enough either.

This is all about Apple pushing sales of mid-tier and top-tier devices and gaining subscriptions to their "cloud" services. If you don't opt for a better, more costly, device then you will be heavily convinced that you need to pay out for more cloud storage.

If you can't tell, I'm pretty pissed - not just at Apple, but at the entire computer industry. Instead of offering cloud as supplemental to customers local storage, the industry expects customers to trade off local storage space for cloud storage. If this was about making it better for customers, we'd have plenty of local storage and lots of cloud storage options. Maybe someday, but for now it's a mess of money-grubbing executives trying to find ways to deceive the public without the public catching on to what they're doing.

 

[marty11]

I think consumers need and incentive to upgrade these days.

Apple is relying heavy on "shiney toy syndrome" to sell a phone to anybody who has the 6 already.

For those with a 5/5s and 32 gigs or above might pass too.

The used market is massive. I am always shocked that so many people buy these phones new.

 

[marty11]

What Apple is trying to te everyone is that the iPhone 6s is a low end consumer product.

 

[JohnApples]

That reminds me, not too long ago Apple stated that the average person has 100 apps on their phone. A couple years ago, I think it was, they also stated that the iPhone was the number one camera used to upload pictures to Flickr.

They're really proud of how much people use the iPhone and how powerful it is. Yet, they claim all this while offering a very restricting base storage. Again, what's the point in having all this power in a phone, if you can't use it a lot unless you pay premium? Are you telling me that you have to cough up another $100 on top of the already hefty price tag of $650 in order to use the phone as it was meant to be used?

It just doesn't add up. Yeah, I know, there are people who only use their iPhone as a mirror or something, so they don't need a lot of storage. But apparently, Apple has stated themselves that the "average user" is trying to take full potential of their phones.

 

[Razeus]

Apple is holding the industry back. It's 2015, we should be at 64GB base model for $650, with 128GB, and 256GB upgrades by now.

Apple has enough power to bring down chip prices to the margins they need them.

 

[marty11]

Anyone not pleased, it's simple.

Buy the flagship iPhone with 128/256 from apple unlocked. Open it up, put your finger prints on it then return it. Make apple sell it as a refurb.

 

[Michael Goff]

So you're saying *****YOU****** have family members who got by just fine on 16 GB, so Apple should continue to design products around your needs.

Got it.

And you're saying you can't, ergo they should stop selling products that meet others' needs on the basis of your own needs.

Got it.

 

[Michael Goff]

What Apple is trying to te everyone is that the iPhone 6s is a low end consumer product.

I bet most companies wished their low end products ran as well as an iPhone.

 

[marty11]

And you're saying you can't, ergo they should stop selling products that meet others' needs on the basis of your own needs.

Got it.

Yes, you realize the sarcasm of my comment. You should run a big company. Maybe one that makes Captain Obvious pins.

 

[marty11]

I bet most companies wished their low end products ran as well as an iPhone.

Soon, Apple is going to wish their low end iPhones ran as good as their high end iPhones from 2012.

 

[Michael Goff]

Yes, you realize the sarcasm of my comment. You should run a big company. Maybe one that makes Captain Obvious pins.

I do?

I thought you were just making a statement saying that you thought the guy was self-centered. I didn't realize it was made as a joke, and that you realized how silly you sounded in it.

 

[Michael Goff]

Soon, Apple is going to wish their low end iPhones ran as good as their high end iPhones from 2012.

When did Apple start selling low end iPhones? I know they still sell old iPhones, sure, but I didn't even realize they made low end iPhones. (There is a difference between selling an old product and selling a low end product)

 

[Ethosik]

Do you guys realize that these are phones? Do you guys realize that there are a bunch of people out there that treat these as JUST phones? For my iPhone, I can get by with 16GB. My parents get by with 16GB and my grandma gets by with 16GB. However, on my iPad, I needed 128GB.

This is like complaining that Samsung releases 120GB SSDs in 2015. I have one, and I only fill it to 50%. Your space requirements has nothing to do with what year it is. There are people out there that need 6TB of storage.

Also, why are you guys complaining about the price. The 16GB iPhone from 2009 is not the same as the latest 16GB iPhone. Those other advancements cost money you know.

 

[Tubamajuba]

Do you guys realize that these are phones? Do you guys realize that there are a bunch of people out there that treat these as JUST phones? For my iPhone, I can get by with 16GB. My parents get by with 16GB and my grandma gets by with 16GB. However, on my iPad, I needed 128GB.

This is like complaining that Samsung releases 120GB SSDs in 2015. I have one, and I only fill it to 50%. Your space requirements has nothing to do with what year it is. There are people out there that need 6TB of storage.

Also, why are you guys complaining about the price. The 16GB iPhone from 2009 is not the same as the latest 16GB iPhone. Those other advancements cost money you know.

The argument here is that because Apple can do something, they should. And because they won't, tons of people are crossing their arms, pouting, and saying that they're done buying iPhones. Until they buy the 6s and complain about the exact same thing next year, stating they're done buying iPhones.

Rinse and repeat every year.