Will we ever see a 256gb?

[Mr.C]

May I ask... What do you do on your devices that you need that much of onboard memory?

My iPhone is still 16Gb. I agree that it's little too tight amount of storage, but easily manageable with cloud storage.

My iPad is 64Gb and I have used approximately 40% of the space so I still have loads of storage left.

My Mac, yes a Mac which I use to do serious stuff with has 256Gb of storage and I think I will never get even close to filling it completely.

From my personal point of view it's basically impossible to fill 256Gb or even 128Gb device. How do you do this? Seriously? It's 2015. We have cloud services and streaming services. You can download your favorite songs and movies locally and stream everything else. Having your whole library locally isn't an excuse. Thats just waste of space.

It really annoys me when people post such things assuming that every one has access to an internet connection 100% of the time. I've got news for you this is not the case. There is no way you can rely on cloud services and streaming 100% of the time. It's impossible. I live in London which by all intense and purposes is one of the largest cities in the world but even here I do not have access to a decent and/or unlimited data connection all the time.

My cellular plan is limited to 8GB per month and there is no way to get wi-fi at least useable wi-fi for cloud service and streaming whilst on the go walking or in the car. When travelling on the subway underground there is no connection at all except at certain stations but not in the tunnels at all. There is no way I could rely on a data connection 100% of the time.

My mood changes all the time and I like to listen to different music and podcasts or watch movies or TV programs on my phone or iPad. For this I need a large storage capacity. I shouldn't have to nor do I want to manage my storage mainly because I may end up not having what i want to listen to or watch on my device. I have a 128GB iPhone and iPad and I have around 20-30GB free on both. I could easily fill all of it up and even make use of a 256GB storage option.

 

[Mr.C]

I have around 250 songs downloaded locally and it takes around 2Gb of space. 250 songs isn't enough when your connection isn't good enough for streaming? I think it most certainly is more than enough.

Maybe for you but it isn't for everyone. I have over 4,000 songs in my library and I like to have direct access to them all the time. Not to mention my movies, photos, apps and podcasts.

 

[michael31986]

Yeah. I see your point.

However. Even if I would have 128Gb iPhone with approximately 117Gb of usable space. If I filled it completely with music I would still have only ~15K songs locally. So you need that many songs available all the times? I doubt it. Realistically, if you have only your favorite playlists and albums locally let's say 250-1000 songs. That would still take only 2-6Gb of storage and you would still have 36 million songs available to stream when you got the connection. Now... How do you fill the 128Gb iPhone? I understand that there are special ocassions where you may need that much space but 95% of us don't need that. I guess most people claiming that they "need" 128Gb are just not up with the times.

My next iPhone will be 64Gb most certainly. But it feels useless since I will never be able to fill it up. 32Gb would be reasonable but unfortunately such option is not available.

Okay and that's you. Why do people not get that some people like have one device will all heir music. Instead of having iPods and iPhones and iPads.

 

[Mr.C]

I guess most people claiming that they "need" 128Gb are just not up with the times.

Too me that is an insult of my intelligence and an incorrect assumption. I am more then intelligent enough regards to storage and how it can be used. Obviously you're happy streaming and making use of the cloud but that doesn't mean everyone's needs and wants are the same. If I'm prepared to pay for a higher storage capacity that is my decision and there is nothing wrong in that.

 

[Skylitfly]

Too me that is an insult of my intelligence and an incorrect assumption. I am more then intelligent enough regards to storage and how it can be used. Obviously you're happy streaming and making use of the cloud but that doesn't mean everyone's needs and wants are the same. If I'm prepared to pay for a higher storage capacity that is my decision and there is nothing wrong in that.

It's not insult in anyway. I don't say you shouldn't buy 128Gb iPhone. Go ahead if you want to. What I'm saying or questioning is if thats really necessary? I mean really? I think 128Gb is still ok, but this thread was about 256Gb iPhone. All I can say is why? I can't even fill my 256Gb MacBook even thought I have tons of semi-large Photoshop and Illustratos files stored there and other stuff too. I can't see how someone could possibly need 256Gb iOS device.

PS. I think this is more about how we're behaving with our things. I'm kind of a minimalist person. I only like to have whats absolutely necessary. Nothing more, nothing less. I have minimum amount of apps and all on my phone. I just hate the idea of having an app that I use once every second week. I only have apps I use almost daily. Same goes with photos, music and videos. I only have my absolute must have favorites. Nothing more.

 

[masotime]

It's not insult in anyway. I don't say you shouldn't buy 128Gb iPhone. Go ahead if you want to. What I'm saying or questioning is if thats really necessary? I mean really? I think 128Gb is still ok, but this thread was about 256Gb iPhone. All I can say is why? I can't even fill my 256Gb MacBook even thought I have tons of semi-large Photoshop and Illustratos files stored there and other stuff too. I can't see how someone could possibly need 256Gb iOS device.

Hmmm... you are ignoring that file sizes get larger as technology progresses.

The simplest example is 4K. Let's take 4K recorded at the bitrate of most modern digital cameras - 100Mbps - with the assumption that the iPhone camera will eventually have a larger sensor size to justify the higher bit rate.

100Mbps is 12.5 megabytes a second. Let's say you record an hour of video.

That's 45 gigabytes.

One day smartphones will record 8K video. Smartphones may record "virtual-reality" 360 video. Let's say the bitrate increases to 400Mbps. (not unlikely, 8K is 4 times the number of pixels of 4K)

You're looking at 180 gigabytes for an hour of video. I just busted all my 128Gb.

Perhaps games will mount onto special VR headsets (actually already happening). Game sizes might reach 20-30 gigabytes.

Suddenly 256 gigabytes seems small, doesn't it.

 

[Skylitfly]

Hmmm... you are ignoring that file sizes get larger as technology progresses.

The simplest example is 4K. Let's take 4K recorded at the bitrate of most modern digital cameras - 100Mbps - with the assumption that the iPhone camera will eventually have a larger sensor size to justify the higher bit rate.

100Mbps is 12.5 megabytes a second. Let's say you record an hour of video.

That's 45 gigabytes.

One day smartphones will record 8K video. Smartphones may record "virtual-reality" 360 video. Let's say the bitrate increases to 400Mbps. (not unlikely, 8K is 4 times the number of pixels of 4K)

You're looking at 180 gigabytes for an hour of video. I just busted all my 128Gb.

Perhaps games will mount onto special VR headsets (actually already happening). Game sizes might reach 20-30 gigabytes.

Suddenly 256 gigabytes seems small, doesn't it.

Yeah, but now you're talking about scenario approximately 4-6 years or likely even more years away. How many of us keep our phone more than 1 or 2 years? And those who do keep their phones for longer periods of time are certainly less technologically aware and hence less likely to store huge amounts of stuff to their phones. They usually just go with default settings meaning they will automatically not shoot 4K video or anything fancy.

As I said before. There are special occasions where 128 or even 256Gb iPhone will be reasonable. But 95% of us will never ever be able to fully utilize that amount of storage.

PS. For example. In my opinion it's weird to have 128Gb iPhone if you are only utilizing, let's say 50Gb of it. You should have got 64Gb. There are many people like this who buys larger storage model "just in case" even thought they are completely aware about the fact that they will never utilize the storege completely.

 

[Newtons Apple]

No doubt we will see this much memory in the future. Even 512GB sooner of later.

 

[Mr.C]

It's not insult in anyway. I don't say you shouldn't buy 128Gb iPhone. Go ahead if you want to. What I'm saying or questioning is if thats really necessary? I mean really? I think 128Gb is still ok, but this thread was about 256Gb iPhone. All I can say is why? I can't even fill my 256Gb MacBook even thought I have tons of semi-large Photoshop and Illustratos files stored there and other stuff too. I can't see how someone could possibly need 256Gb iOS device.

PS. I think this is more about how we're behaving with our things. I'm kind of a minimalist person. I only like to have whats absolutely necessary. Nothing more, nothing less. I have minimum amount of apps and all on my phone. I just hate the idea of having an app that I use once every second week. I only have apps I use almost daily. Same goes with photos, music and videos. I only have my absolute must have favorites. Nothing more.

I still don't agree with you. i have a 512GB SSD in my MacBook Pro and there is only 180GB of free space left. That means I have already used approximately 332GB of space and I've only had the laptop for 6 months. No doubt my iPhone and iPad will get close full eventually and i will have no choice but to remove some of the items on them to free up space. Like I said not everyone is like you and different people have different needs and wants. I'm not a minimalist person when it comes to storage and I also cannot predict in advance what I will want to listen to or watch.

It makes it easier when all my content is on my device and I can choose to watch or listen to what ever I want when ever I want without having to rely on spotty data connections which will no doubt also use up more of my battery. Anton example i would give which I did not mention in my previous posts is a long plane flight. I recently went to Singapore for a holiday and my flight time was 13 hours. There was no data connection on the flight so if I did not have all my music, podcasts, movies and apps then I wouldn't have been able to access anything that I wanted to that wasn't on my devices.