Most people will walk into the store and buy the cheapest iphone. If they reduced the 16gb to $100, and sold the 32gb for $200, most would still buy the 16gb because for the casual user 16gb is enough.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
When is Apple going to kill 16GB?
- Thread starter chupachup
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Most people will walk into the store and buy the cheapest iphone. If they reduced the 16gb to $100, and sold the 32gb for $200, most would still buy the 16gb because for the casual user 16gb is enough.
I agree on this one. 16GB isn't enough anymore, even for what we consider to be the average consumer. I myself have always bought the 32GB option but we all know most people don't really understand capacities and what they do for you and they go with the cheapest option. I hear way too many stories of having to delete things to take more pictures or install iOS updates. Hopefully this is the year that the base model is 32GB's but I kind of doubt it. They announced the overhauled iCloud and iCloud Drive features so they may consider that to be the "fix" per say.
I'm perfectly OK with 16GB being the base model. What I am not OK with is being price gouged for the upgrade to 32GB. It's probably a $10 difference at the absolute most in cost for Apple. So given even Apple mark-ups a $50 difference in price is more than reasonable. $100 is just fleecing.
When it stops selling, and when the software becomes more demanding. (It should be a while, like the 4GB and 8GB)
I still get the 32Gb anyway because I have TV seasons on my iPad, and each season is like 20GB....but I resolved this by just keeping half the episodes in the cloud instead of downloading them.
Space is relevant, and I have 8.3GBs left on my iPad, and 19.7 used, so 16GBs would have not been sufficient.
I still get the 32Gb anyway because I have TV seasons on my iPad, and each season is like 20GB....but I resolved this by just keeping half the episodes in the cloud instead of downloading them.
Space is relevant, and I have 8.3GBs left on my iPad, and 19.7 used, so 16GBs would have not been sufficient.
reverting to 8gb as another option?
Oh come on, man; I get the perspective from either side but the OP has a point. While there are people who don't utilize the full capacity of their storage, file sizes are getting substantially bigger. This point is especially pertinent if the rumors of iTunes HiFi are true.
Not because 16GB is enough, but because $100 is the cheapest.
----------
I still think the 16GB should either be killed on given away at this point. Maybe free on contract.
Start at 32GB. If anything everything will be getting bigger, especially when they really start moving to 64bit and people always demanding more megapixels. A 16GB phone will fill up in no time.
For the 16gb that's just for people who mostly use it as just a phone and emailing.
BBut for us who use these things like laptops, videos, pictures, all sorts of apps, 16gb is nothing.
Especially when it comes to the iPad, but iPhone as well. A friend just bought the 64gb iPhone not too long ago. He has 2gb free.
Also as the updates for iOS come, the bigger it will get and the more space it will take up.
IPhone has always been bare bones, but as they get closer and closer to have all the bells and whistles of an Android phone, the more space iOS will take up.
Right now ios takes up about 4GB (or close to that) so an iPhone 5s will have about 12GB free. Since the phone is pretty much empty as far as functionality you have to start downloading apps. Take a few pictures. Before you know it in a couple of days you have about 6GB free.
The more features apple adds, the bigger it will get.
My LG G2 takes up about 8GB out of the box, but there are only a few apps I downloaded because it does everything without installing much.
Since my phone has no expandable storage, it came with a minimum of 32GB. So I had about 24GB free for a phone that was cheaper than an iPhone 5c.
Last edited:
Never going to happen. This is apple we're talking about. The only phones you can buy for free are the ones that are 3 years old.
I don't see this happening. Ever.
Realisticallly, the 16GB should stay as it's plenty enough for over 50% of iPhone buyers. OR, putting it a different way, over 50% of iPhone buyers find a way to make do with 16GB of storage space because they are unable, or refuse, to pay more.
It's the storage upgrade prices which need to come down. Anything more than $55 to upgrade to a 32GB model is robbery.
It's the storage upgrade prices which need to come down. Anything more than $55 to upgrade to a 32GB model is robbery.
I just can't see them doing that, although they arguably should. They'll make far less money...
When the average punter refuses to buy an iPhone due to it having insufficient storage space, then they'll listen. People buy these things (and iPads) with 1GB of RAM, they don't seem to care about specs. Your average iPhone buyer will just export photos to their computer, or use cloud storage space - which again for the 'average' user, is free.
Yes I'm just saying they should.
I think they will, but not now. In the future for sure. As iOS gets bigger and bigger.
Now they have these new features like Slo MO and that stuff. The sizes of these files will just get bigger and bigger. I don't think iOS will be able to live in a 16GB phone for much longer.
You go on vacation. Your iPhone has like 4GB free. A couple of videos and a few pictures and you're out. Without expandable storage you're screwed.
Your future prediction of when is not going to happen. If people really cared, there would be a known backlash by now.
I moved away from O2 not because of anything other than wanting the unlimited data on 3's One Plan so i could really use the phone instead of not properly using apps because they ate to much data.
Generally the signal has been pretty good but one issue is that the frequency they operate on doesnt get inside buildings very well so thats when you can struggle. Initially i got a PAYG sim from them that i popped in my iPhone 5 to test the signal in the main places i went. I had issues at the house we've just moved out of where i couldnt get a very good signal in a lot of the house but everywhere else was fine so i jumped and took the rolling monthly contract initially so i could get out of it if need be. After a while i spoke to them as the signal at home was becoming an issue so they gave me home signal booster that attaches to my broadband which solved the issue in return for signing up for a year. Believe now they've stopped with the boosters and have released the InTouch app that allows you to use Wifi to make calls etc.
4G is included so if you have a phone that does it and in a place that has it you will pick it up and i have done in a few main cities i've been to.
They will scrap 16GB when one of two things happens:
1) People stop buying the 16GB model.
2) It becomes inconvenient to have a 16GB model because small enough flash memory chips aren't available.
That's it. If Apple can save even a buck a unit by offering 16GB, and they sell, they'll do so.
1) People stop buying the 16GB model.
2) It becomes inconvenient to have a 16GB model because small enough flash memory chips aren't available.
That's it. If Apple can save even a buck a unit by offering 16GB, and they sell, they'll do so.
I will be a bit annoyed if they don't make the base model 32GB this time around, 16GB is incredibly stingy for something that's meant to be a premium product.
I see a lot of comment about people only using it for texting and surfing etc and while that may be the case for some people, from my experience, everyone I know with a 16GB iPhone has filled the memory up, most casual users download a few games and snap a lot of photos and videos.
People buy the base model because they don't want or feel the need to pay (a lot!) extra for more storage, that doesn't mean they won't need it 12-18 months into their 24 month phone contract.
----------
#1 will never happen as average Joe will just walk into their phone shop and want the cheapest model available. If the iPhone 5C/S was available in 8GB people would still be buying it.
I see a lot of comment about people only using it for texting and surfing etc and while that may be the case for some people, from my experience, everyone I know with a 16GB iPhone has filled the memory up, most casual users download a few games and snap a lot of photos and videos.
People buy the base model because they don't want or feel the need to pay (a lot!) extra for more storage, that doesn't mean they won't need it 12-18 months into their 24 month phone contract.
----------
#1 will never happen as average Joe will just walk into their phone shop and want the cheapest model available. If the iPhone 5C/S was available in 8GB people would still be buying it.
I think the real question should be... when is Apple going to kill 8GB? I think 16 should be the minimum amount for the lowest tier iPhone. I can certainly make do with 16 GB, but I don't have very much stuff on my iPhone.
Well, on my iPhone I barely use half of the 16gb available; I don't see the point in keeping many files on it since I stream all my music, (cheap, fast and unlimited data) don't play games or hoard photos for anything more than 5 minutes 'til I upload them.