Phil Schiller Talks 16 GB iPhones and Thinness vs Battery Life Tradeoffs

[keysofanxiety]

Nope since the iPhone 3GS
INSANEEEE

Jesus that really puts it into perspective. the cost difference now between 16GB/32GB has to literally be a dollar or something. They claim to stand for the consumer and yet are making so much profit that they currently have more money than most small countries.

And the Apple fanatics cheer as they hear how much money they're making. God I feel stupid looking back, like I was in some sort of cult.

With this, the advent of lower-performing computer hardware than the equivalent generation 3 years ago, 8GB phone models in 2015, outdated machines, sketchy cloud services that seem to have regular outages, buggy software that has a world of issues on Mail and Wi-Fi (while a Chromebook could connect to Wi-Fi just fine and Thunderbird has absolutely no Mail problems) ... oh boy and so many other issues ...

We defend the hardware decisions and the deliberate planned obsolescence because as consumers we have a 'choice' in not getting the crappy models. Yet Apple claim to make the right choices for us. I don't think this is the case.

And we cheer and defend them while they have nearly a trillion dollars.

So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.

 

[2IS]

How long a phone takes to charge is a completely meaningless metric. If you hook up an iPhone 6 to a 5 watt charger for 20 minutes and an iPhone 6 Plus to that same charger for 20 minutes, the same amount of energy went in there.

That's like saying a larger fuel tank takes longer to fill. Well yeah, but $20 will get you the same amount of fuel if you have a large or small tank, and if you have the time to fully charge, which most people do at the end of the day before going to bed, you get a whole lot more run time.

The reasoning behind the storage and battery is just a bunch of crap.

 

[saturn88]

In the mean time I enjoy my Samsung Galaxy Note 4:

• 4GB of RAM,
• 32GB of built-in entry level storage,
• Up to 128GB removable flash cards
• 50GB free 2-year Dropbox subscription for Samsung Galaxy users (total 65GB)
• Huge removable battery with 2 spares...

Also...

• 3.7MP selfie camera with a super wide angle lens
  
• 16MP main camera
• OLED display
• Pressure sensitive stylus

 

[recoil80]

In my opinion the real shame is to put only 16GB on the 6+
You already pay $100 more for the phone and you still have 16GB.
Same for the iPad, is ok to put 16GB on the mini maybe, but not on Air 2.

 

[keysofanxiety]

In the mean time I enjoy my Samsung Galaxy Note: 4GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, up to 128GB flash card and 50GB free 2-year Dropbox subscription for Samsung Galaxy users...

Congratulations, you've gone from one cult to another. Thank you for articulating how stupid this whole argument is far better than I ever could.

No large conglomorates really think exclusively about the consumer. You get shafted by all companies. Some just use more lube than others.

 

[MH01]

Wow Phil. People would respect you more, if you just said nothing, or just said its to push people to buy the next tier.

iCloud is a good idea, if you have the data plan for it.

Next time Phil, when you go for a holiday , turn your roaming on, use iCloud for storage, and when you get back home, look at your bill and see if you have missed a major use case for people who do not live on one large continent? That is unless you get a share of the bill in which case it's genius!!

 

[Serban]

Guys we already know the iphone 6s will start with 32gb storage...so from september will be fine, and don't forget iOS9 with only 1.5 gb so we get more than double the storage on an iphone 6s

 

[alexgowers]

So Phil thinks rather than local fast storage, users want speeds mostly akin to floppy drives of years past?

Mobile networks and operators aren't there as they put profits first. It's a nice idea but relying on congested, inefficient data from basically cartels is not going to improve the user experience.

It's a up sell tactic that apple should avoid in the future imho it's hurting sales not helping them.

 

[MH01]

Congratulations, you've gone from one cult to another. Thank you for articulating how stupid this whole argument is far better than I ever could.

No large conglomorates really think exclusively about the consumer. You get shafted by all companies. Some just use more lube than others.

Samsung a cult? That is so disrespectful to what apple has achieved. There is apple, daylight.........some more daylight..... And users who remain loyal to an android device, till another company produces a better android device Samsung is no cult, never will be.

 

[MH01]

Guys we already know the iphone 6s will start with 32gb storage...so from september will be fine, and don't forget iOS9 with only 1.5 gb so we get more than double the storage on an iphone 6s

The 1.5 gb is the OTA download size right? The actual space of used on the phone has not been confirmed ?

 

[krazifour]

Sign me up for the 1mm thicker iPhone and 30% increase in battery life, please.

 

[CJM]

Gruber should have pressed him on the issue, that excuse is clearly BS. Why would you accept that as an answer?

 

[thewayfaerer]

Well, what I really like about apple is this beeing bold thing. I remember when the first iMac was introduced and analysts said, it won't become a success because it has no parallel port and no floppy drive.
Of course, sometimes they are too bold or go in the wrong direction but that's still better than for example sticking with drive letters for the next couple of decades.

 

[dumastudetto]

Gruber should have pressed him on the issue, that excuse is clearly BS. Why would you accept that as an answer?

How do you know he didn't challenge him on it? The episode hasn't been published yet.

Gruber's views have been very clear on this. He thinks Apple should be starting at 32GB. He has said it numerous times on his podcast with numerous different guests.

I personally disagree with Gruber and side with Schiller on this. I thought Schiller's answer was courageously honest and one that most consumers will appreciate is the right decision.

 

[coolspot18]

So it seems like we can abandon any hopes for at least 32 GB baseline storage for the 6s generation. Sigh.

What a stupid position - price conscious customers aren't using the cloud because that costs extra money and data charges.

I guess from Apple's perspective they don't care since they're not a cash cow.

 

[MentalFloss]

My wife has been happy with 16GB (previously, she was happy with 8GB). My mother-in-law uses a 16GB iPad for Facetime and is happy with it also. Not everyone has a 20Gig music collection. If someone wants more storage capacity, they can buy a higher-tier phone, or if that is too expensive (oh, boohoo, Apple is a company that is trying to maximize its profit, how immoral!), there is a very very wide range of excellent cheaper Android phones on the market.

 

[Narcaz]

Gruber should have also asked why Apple is still selling iMacs for 1100$/1800$ with 5400rpm spinning drives. This is just incredibly bad for the user experience. Or why does the 2014 mac mini have soldered ram? In 2015 Apple passed the point, where someone could make even far fetched excuses for these decisions. The honest answer would be profit margins and greed. Simple as that. And the same is true for 8/16GB iPhone models and the 89€ Macbook HDMI Dongle.

 

[cdm283813]

Pretty much guarantees that iPhone 6S will have 16GB on the base model.
Maybe Apple needs to offer another incentive for those jumping to 64GB and 128GB. How about 1 more year of warranty coverage which would be easy to implement? I'm not talking about accident breakage like what HTC does; just warranty. Don't care what it is but it's pretty obvious that 16GB is a pure money grab when the majority of the competition offers 32GB.

 

[HeyLammy]

Phil, just get used to the idea this issue isn't gonna let up until Apple start with a minimum of 32GB of storage. We all know the cost is minimal for this to be done. Plus poor 3G/4G signal in certain areas and no wifi make cloud storage an issue. Also if you're on holiday incurring data roaming charges.

 

[TouchMint.com]

Its not about the 32gb costing a ton more (its maybe $5 more) its more about the fact they can charge you $100 to upgrade to it!

If I was trying to make as much money as possible I would do the same thing. As he noted they also love the fact they can get you to pay for iCloud yearly (the money just keeps coming in).

 

[ShadovvMoon]

Can they hurry up and remove the battery already? I'm so sick of charging time

 

[DMojo]

Is there audio or video of this up yet?

 

[Winni]

Schiller countered that services like iCloud could make up the difference.

...

Schiller said he wants an Apple that's "bold and taking risks and being aggressive."

Maybe Phil should move to some rural area where Internet connections are extremely slow and mobile data is a luxury commodity. When can then discuss this cloud nonsense again.

Furthermore, at least in Europe nobody trusts American cloud services anymore. In the IT business, everybody was skeptical about these things to begin with, and then came the Snowden documents. "On premises" or "own cloud" is what everybody wants - we just don't want to store our data in some data center of which we don't even know where that is geographically located.

Phll wants an Apple that's "bold and taking risks and being aggressive". Well. For all I know, only their marketing and legal departments seem to be aggressive these days. Their products are now all based upon statistics and market analysis - they're going where everybody else goes, they are no longer coming up with own ideas and their products are certainly not defining tomorrow's technological landscape anymore. Yep, they are big today. But so were IBM, Nokia and Blackberry in their time. Being the largest player today is no guarantee for being in that same position tomorrow.

I don't see Apple being bold anymore, and they are most certainly not taking any risks. Putting a SIM card slot in the Apple watch would have been a bold move, and it certainly would have posed a risk to their cash cow, the iPhone. They didn't do it. They just made the watch an expensive and rather unnecessary accessory to the iPhone because they did not dare to cannibalize that market.

Schiller thinks that putting only one USB port into a notebook is bold and risky? That's a laugh, considering the demography of the target audience for that specific product...

 

[Serban]

Pretty much guarantees that iPhone 6S will have 16GB on the base model.
Maybe Apple needs to offer another incentive for those jumping to 64GB and 128GB. How about 1 more year of warranty coverage which would be easy to implement? I'm not talking about accident breakage like what HTC does; just warranty. Don't care what it is but it's pretty obvious that 16GB is a pure money grab when the majority of the competition offers 32GB.

Sorry to disappoint but iphone 6s will begin with 32 gb storage 100%

 

[baryon]

I have a 16 GB iPhone 4S and although space is a bit tight, I can manage. And I'd rather be able to actually afford an iPhone - any kind of iPhone - with not much storage than to not be able to afford an iPhone altogether and have to keep using my Nokia 5210. With a bit of effort, not syncing all my music and regularly downloading all my photos onto my Mac, I get to have an iPhone. It's worth it.

Those who say 16 GB is a joke: why? 16 GB of stuff is quite a lot to carry around, are you really going to use all those 16 GB all the time? If you put a bit of effort into it, you think ahead and decide what you will really need, say, for a trip, what music you have but aren't going to listen to any time soon, what movies you're realistically not going to have time to watch, and just remove those from your iPhone. Remove the photos you aren't going to look at. Remove everything you're not going to use, and only keep the stuff you're going to use. The iPhone is not for storing stuff, that's what hard drives and desktop computers are for, it's for having stuff handy to use. I doubt that anyone accesses 16 GB of data during a normal day, ever. It would take more time to listen to, watch, and use all that data than your phone has battery for. So every time you sync your phone, just figure out what you will need that day and what you won't. It's still better than owning a Nokia.

Though I agree the iCloud talk is rubbish: if something is important to me and I'm actually willing to rely on it, it will be locally stored on my device. Anything that you store in the cloud is subject to not being available when: your data allowance is unexpectedly exceeded, your 3G coverage disappears for some reason, you run out of credit, you do have coverage but it's being very slow and it's not worth waiting 10 minutes for it to load. So you can't rely on it.