Joe Maring / Android Authority
Each Apple occasion, be it WWDC or the brand new iPhone launch, brings me a set of complicated ideas. There’s quite a lot of mockery over what Apple has determined to copy innovate and their random bulletins that nobody requested for (good day, iPhone Air), but in addition a little bit of jealousy-slash-awe at Apple’s pull over your entire telephone trade. I see that new front-facing digital camera, and I do know many Android manufacturers are actually scrambling to repeat it in 2026; it’ll simply be the brand new gold normal of selfie cameras.
But when there was one factor that stood out to me greater than the foolish thinness of the Air and its exterior battery pack, the deceptive “fusion” lens, the 120Hz refresh price on the bottom iPhone, and the brand new modems and chips, it’s one tiny element: The iPhone 17 now begins at 256GB.
We needed to anticipate Apple to do it, however Apple has gone and executed it. And, identical to I do know that everybody will copy that new front-facing digital camera, I additionally know that Apple’s affect on telephone pricing and portfolio construction is insane. 256GB will change into the norm within the US and the West as a result of Apple made it the brand new norm, and nobody desires to lose a battle towards Apple due to a foolish, cheap flash storage improve.
256GB of base storage will change into the norm as a result of Apple simply made it the norm.
It’ll seemingly occur as quickly as 2026. Samsung’s Galaxy S26 and Google’s Pixel 11 ought to each begin at 256GB. And we will lastly retire that restrictive 128GB of inner storage that will get eaten by the firmware, AI fashions, cumulative cache, and completely different apps and video games that you just set up and use over the few years that you just personal the telephone, leaving restricted area for pictures, movies, music, and different giant information. And look, I do know that a few of you’ll inform me that they’re okay with 128GB being the bottom as a result of they don’t want extra, however most customers disagree. Even in 2024, 70% of over 24,000 votes on our storage ballot stated 128Gb isn’t sufficient.
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Sticking with 128GB is stingy and low cost, particularly for telephones that price over $800. It artificially limits the capabilities of the telephone you’re shopping for since you’ll begin babysitting its storage. That implausible digital camera and video shooter? That gaming beast? That AI champion? All of them want extra storage. With out further storage, you may as effectively purchase a much less succesful telephone with fewer promised years of software program assist. And no, cloud backups — and even native NAS backups — aren’t an answer. So, sure, I’m a bit offended when corporations like Samsung and Google launch costly telephones after which artificially limit them by not letting us totally use them until we splurge for the additional storage tiers. The bottom storage worth of “Beginning $799” is a lie in the event you can’t correctly use the entire telephone’s options on that storage tier.
The bottom worth of $799 is a lie at 128GB. It artificially limits how a lot and the way lengthy you need to use your whole telephone’s superior options.
In the present day, the value distinction between a 128GB and a 256GB microSD card is round $8; it’s most likely a lot much less for flash NAND storage constructed into the telephone. However many corporations like Samsung and Google have been resting on their revenue margins and utilizing this low cost improve as leverage to pressure us to pay a disproportionate $50 or $100 further to get 256GB as a substitute. Insanity.
I nonetheless keep in mind when storage tiers have been seen as a deal, not a nuisance. When the primary iPhone launched in 2007 with 4GB and 8GB of storage for $100 further, the distinction appeared like a no brainer as a result of 8GB microSD playing cards have been a really, very costly rarity. Quickly, although, storage price dropped, however the associated fee to improve tiers didn’t, and the injury was executed. Apple had seen a technique to make further revenue, and it wasn’t going to let it go.
As microSD card slots disappeared from smartphones, each firm began copying that margin-milking tiered storage technique to the purpose the place it turned the norm. And someway, we, your entire smartphone purchaser base, determined it’s alright to be taken hostage by the storage conspiracy, and that paying via the nostril to correctly use all of the options you truly purchase a telephone for is appropriate. It baffles me to suppose that there are youngsters right now who’ve by no means seen a telephone with expandable storage and who suppose it’s regular to pay such a premium for a bit of additional storage. Insanity, I inform you.
Apple has executed the suitable factor right here, shifting the needle in the suitable route for as soon as. I don’t know why they did it — they may’ve simply gotten away with one other 12 months of 128GB — however I’m glad they did. And now the ball is in Samsung and Google’s courts for 2026.
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