The new iPhone offers several features over its 5S predecessor: a faster processor, bigger screen, near field communications for payments, and purportedly longer battery life.
But it has the same base storage (16 GB) as the iPhone 3G, which premiered 5 years ago! (In that time, storage costs for solid state drives have fallen by 80%).
Apps have grown significantly in size, to take advantage of many new features and higher resolution screens. And data plans have become limited, requiring more local storage for those not constantly on wifi.
For a customer signing a new 2-year contract with a wireless provider, the iPhone 6 will cost $199. But for $50 less, the same person could last year’s flagship phone, iPhone 5S, with double the storage capacity - 32GB. To get more than that on the new phone model, you have to get the 64 GB upgrade for a total of $300, twice what the 5S costs.
There are probably enough people with grandfathered unlimited data plans for whom the cloud (via a cellular data connection) can supplement the measly 16 GB base storage. But Apple’s refusal to increase the base storage for it’s flagship phone is pretty cheap, and I wonder if it will drive some Apple phone purchasers to last year’s model in search of a better deal.
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