iPhone SE

[JimKiler]

I agree and I would go further and say that there is no reason to be charitable to large corporations as a consumer.

Imagine if Microsoft offered a Lumia flagship with 16 GB and 64 GB. Or Samsung Galaxy S7 8 GB and 64 GB. They would be criticized and ridiculed. Rightfully, IMO.

Agreed. Apple knows people needing 32GB of storage will overspend to get 64GB of storage because you cannot buy less than you need. This is the kind of stuff that irks me. I believe in the US you cannot get an S7 with less than 32GB.

 

[JimKiler]

My second point is, and others have said it too, is that people don't always know what size they want. I needed to upgrade my Galaxy S4 and I ended up buying a Moto X Pure with a 5.7" screen that I quickly loved. I would have preferred a smaller phone like the Nexus 5X but liked the upgradable storage and higher RAM in the Moto. Only downside for my phablet is running with it, the armband is huge and hard to wrap around my bicep. I will continue to use the S4 for that.

 

[Commodus]

It's clever but I do think Apple buyers are basically giving a free pass to Apple for screwing them over.

Going from 16 to 32GB base storage would increase BOM like $4. Even though everyone knows it's a margin grab by Apple to push people to higher tiers, it amazes me how often you hear people defending it. It's a completely consumer unfriendly move that only benefits Apple's profits and yet rarely a whimper of protest.

I do think Apple knows the limits of this fleecing are coming to an end and they will move the iPhone 7 to iPad Pro tiers:
32GB for $649
128GB for $799
256GB for $949

I do think Apple knows that it'll have to bump up base capacities soon, but at the same time... it's hard to complain too much given that this is one of the few profitable large-scale smartphone makers left. It's always odd how people will accuse Apple of being greedy in one breath and wonder why their favourite alternative is bleeding cash in the next. Not that Apple has the pricing just right (would a smaller capacity delta really hurt?) -- just that pointing to the likes of HTC, LG, Samsung and Sony isn't going to make a good case.

 

[isekii]

I do think Apple knows that it'll have to bump up base capacities soon, but at the same time... it's hard to complain too much given that this is one of the few profitable large-scale smartphone makers left. It's always odd how people will accuse Apple of being greedy in one breath and wonder why their favourite alternative is bleeding cash in the next. Not that Apple has the pricing just right (would a smaller capacity delta really hurt?) -- just that pointing to the likes of HTC, LG, Samsung and Sony isn't going to make a good case.

Wouldn't surprise me if they continued on with the base 16gb atleast for the iphone 7
It's obviously working and even though there are complainers people are still purchasing the 16gb.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I do think Apple knows that it'll have to bump up base capacities soon, but at the same time... it's hard to complain too much given that this is one of the few profitable large-scale smartphone makers left. It's always odd how people will accuse Apple of being greedy in one breath and wonder why their favourite alternative is bleeding cash in the next. Not that Apple has the pricing just right (would a smaller capacity delta really hurt?) -- just that pointing to the likes of HTC, LG, Samsung and Sony isn't going to make a good case.

Don't you know Apple is the only for-profit in the phone business? While others are oppressed charities that totally not copy Apple's pricing strategy if it actually worked for them. It's all evil Apple's fault they made a deal with the devil with Google for tying themselves up to a commoditized OS that every bottom feeder can use!

I'm not even going to mention the absurdity that a potential 16GB iPhone buyer maybe should actually research whether 16GB only is worth the savings as if like they don't need to do the same for every other product in the world out there.

 

[dawheat]

I do think Apple knows that it'll have to bump up base capacities soon, but at the same time... it's hard to complain too much given that this is one of the few profitable large-scale smartphone makers left. It's always odd how people will accuse Apple of being greedy in one breath and wonder why their favourite alternative is bleeding cash in the next. Not that Apple has the pricing just right (would a smaller capacity delta really hurt?) -- just that pointing to the likes of HTC, LG, Samsung and Sony isn't going to make a good case.

This makes no sense at all - Apple just isn't profitable, it's obscenely profitable, the most profitable company in the world in significant part to this storage pricing.

And you completely miss my point - Apple isn't being greedy, they're being smart and pushing their customers as far as they think they will go. My issue is with apologists doing what you are doing - defending a clearly profit driven move that's strongly consumer unfriendly and not pushing Apple harder to move on from 2011. The longer you let it go, the longer Apple will milk it out.

<edit>Just to be clear, I'm not attacking you, I'm attacking the lack of pressure on Apple. Whether it's tech sites or fan sites like imore.com, there's close to a free pass going on here. I'm glad to see some sites raising this more and more recently as an issue though everyone still is more gentle than they should be. I really do think constant and strong criticism from the press and enthusiast community on this could have accelerated Apple's storage plans, even in the 6S. But since they were in the clear, they kept the status quo. But even they know that they can't keep it going as-is for a phone that will sell deep into 2017.

 

[elitejp]

As a business they are free to do what they want. As a consumer I am more than free too not buy something i see as overpriced. But if the rest of the world doesnt care then its their money to spend.

 

[QueBert]

It's clever but I do think Apple buyers are basically giving a free pass to Apple for screwing them over.

Going from 16 to 32GB base storage would increase BOM like $4. Even though everyone knows it's a margin grab by Apple to push people to higher tiers, it amazes me how often you hear people defending it. It's a completely consumer unfriendly move that only benefits Apple's profits and yet rarely a whimper of protest.

I do think Apple knows the limits of this fleecing are coming to an end and they will move the iPhone 7 to iPad Pro tiers:
32GB for $649
128GB for $799
256GB for $949

I want a 128gb phone, not a 64gb phone with a 64gb SD card crammed in it. Who else offers this? Hell, most others don't even offer a 64gb model of their phones. Maybe Apple is screwing me over, but at least they offer the phone with the storage option I want.

 

[Commodus]

This makes no sense at all - Apple just isn't profitable, it's obscenely profitable, the most profitable company in the world in significant part to this storage pricing.

And you completely miss my point - Apple isn't being greedy, they're being smart and pushing their customers as far as they think they will go. My issue is with apologists doing what you are doing - defending a clearly profit driven move that's strongly consumer unfriendly and not pushing Apple harder to move on from 2011. The longer you let it go, the longer Apple will milk it out.

<edit>Just to be clear, I'm not attacking you, I'm attacking the lack of pressure on Apple. Whether it's tech sites or fan sites like imore.com, there's close to a free pass going on here. I'm glad to see some sites raising this more and more recently as an issue though everyone still is more gentle than they should be. I really do think constant and strong criticism from the press and enthusiast community on this could have accelerated Apple's storage plans, even in the 6S. But since they were in the clear, they kept the status quo. But even they know that they can't keep it going as-is for a phone that will sell deep into 2017.

I'm not so much arguing for the status quo as I am the notion that Apple 'must' follow competitors down the tubes as they kill themselves with ever-thinner profit margins. There are times when Apple is clearly being stingy, but I'm not sure that it's right to argue this for the iPhone SE... not in early 2016, anyway.

I err on the side of profit in cases like this because I believe that a good technology company also makes sure that it's still around to support you in a few years. Let's say you bought an HTC One M8 back in 2014. Great phone, right? But let's say you're upgrading in 2016... will you buy an HTC 10 knowing that the company is in trouble, and doesn't have the resources it did a couple of years ago? Samsung and LG aren't about to disappear in a puff of smoke, of course, but it reflects a bad business strategy if your higher-end (and therefore most profitable) phones can't make you money.

 

[mrochester]

This makes no sense at all - Apple just isn't profitable, it's obscenely profitable, the most profitable company in the world in significant part to this storage pricing.

And you completely miss my point - Apple isn't being greedy, they're being smart and pushing their customers as far as they think they will go. My issue is with apologists doing what you are doing - defending a clearly profit driven move that's strongly consumer unfriendly and not pushing Apple harder to move on from 2011. The longer you let it go, the longer Apple will milk it out.

<edit>Just to be clear, I'm not attacking you, I'm attacking the lack of pressure on Apple. Whether it's tech sites or fan sites like imore.com, there's close to a free pass going on here. I'm glad to see some sites raising this more and more recently as an issue though everyone still is more gentle than they should be. I really do think constant and strong criticism from the press and enthusiast community on this could have accelerated Apple's storage plans, even in the 6S. But since they were in the clear, they kept the status quo. But even they know that they can't keep it going as-is for a phone that will sell deep into 2017.

It's all about perceived value. Apple sells 16GB iPhones because 16GB iPhones sell so well. 16GB iPhones sell so well because people see value in buying a 16GB iPhone over a device from another manufacturer, even if the other device has more storage space.

 

[dainthomas]

I want a 128gb phone, not a 64gb phone with a 64gb SD card crammed in it. Who else offers this? Hell, most others don't even offer a 64gb model of their phones. Maybe Apple is screwing me over, but at least they offer the phone with the storage option I want.

Having an SD card instead of a huge amount of internal storage is barely an issue with Marshmallow. You pop it in and forget about it because it shows up as one chunk of storage. Power users going forward who need 128 aren't going to pay the premium if a phone has an SD slot.

 

[mrochester]

Having an SD card instead of a huge amount of internal storage is barely an issue with Marshmallow. You pop it in and forget about it because it shows up as one chunk of storage. Power users going forward who need 128 aren't going to pay the premium if a phone has an SD slot.

That functionality is removed by some manufacturers.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I'm not so much arguing for the status quo as I am the notion that Apple 'must' follow competitors down the tubes as they kill themselves with ever-thinner profit margins. There are times when Apple is clearly being stingy, but I'm not sure that it's right to argue this for the iPhone SE... not in early 2016, anyway.

I err on the side of profit in cases like this because I believe that a good technology company also makes sure that it's still around to support you in a few years. Let's say you bought an HTC One M8 back in 2014. Great phone, right? But let's say you're upgrading in 2016... will you buy an HTC 10 knowing that the company is in trouble, and doesn't have the resources it did a couple of years ago? Samsung and LG aren't about to disappear in a puff of smoke, of course, but it reflects a bad business strategy if your higher-end (and therefore most profitable) phones can't make you money.

Excellent post.

 

[Eug]

There are some great deals from our local carriers on the iPhone 5S if you sign a contract. Considering I have a decent older plan eligible for those subsidies, signing the contract just means I get a free/cheap phone using that same plan. (There are better retention plans available, but they are not that much better for the most part, and don't come with phone subsidies.)

I'm hoping the discontinued 5S gets sold out quickly, so they can (hopefully) start offering these types of deals on the iPhone SE.

 

[JimKiler]

I do think Apple knows that it'll have to bump up base capacities soon, but at the same time... it's hard to complain too much given that this is one of the few profitable large-scale smartphone makers left. It's always odd how people will accuse Apple of being greedy in one breath and wonder why their favourite alternative is bleeding cash in the next. Not that Apple has the pricing just right (would a smaller capacity delta really hurt?) -- just that pointing to the likes of HTC, LG, Samsung and Sony isn't going to make a good case.

Samsung used to be just as guilty as Apple at overcharging for extra storage and I think we all hated it just as much no matter who the manufacturer is, so it is not an Apple specific complaint. But getting an S7 from a carrier in the US means you will get a minimum of 32GB for storage.

Some of the issue is people bought 16GB phones (iphone and andriod) a couple of years ago and that was double what they had in their previous phones so they thought they have plenty of storage and now 16 GB is not enough due to increasing app sizes.

In summary it is not overnight people realize they need higher storage capacity since they will still hold onto their phones that they bought for a couple years and make due. If I bought a phone now without android adoptive storage i would need at least 32GB.

 

[Eug]

Note that the iPhone 4 in 2010 started at 16 GB as well. So that is 6 years now.

Yes there were 8 GB models, but those didn't appear until the iPhone 4 was replaced by the iPhone 4S.

 

[QueBert]

Having an SD card instead of a huge amount of internal storage is barely an issue with Marshmallow. You pop it in and forget about it because it shows up as one chunk of storage. Power users going forward who need 128 aren't going to pay the premium if a phone has an SD slot.

I've had 6 SD cards just up and die on me, I've never had a phone's internal memory do that. I'll gladly pay a premium for faster, more reliable storage every day of the week.

 

[linkgoron]

I've had 6 SD cards just up and die on me, I've never had a phone's internal memory do that. I'll gladly pay a premium for faster, more reliable storage every day of the week.

On the other hand, I've been using the same SD-card for the last 3 years (on two different phones).

 

[JimKiler]

I've had 6 SD cards just up and die on me, I've never had a phone's internal memory do that. I'll gladly pay a premium for faster, more reliable storage every day of the week.

On the other hand, I've been using the same SD-card for the last 3 years (on two different phones).

I also have not had any SD cards die but i am sure there are quality micro SD cards and crappy ones just like every other product.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Wouldn't surprise me if they continued on with the base 16gb atleast for the iphone 7

Me either.

People forget that Apple mostly replaced Blackberry as "the business phone." The 16GB model isn't enough for a personal phone, but for a business phone you shouldn't be installing the next great game or taking a bunch of pictures. If you just need a phone that can run iOS, get email and run the one app your business needs 16GB is fine.

I actually don't mind Apple being stingy about the storage because you can upgrade it by paying more. What drives me nuts is when they save a buck to cut down something that IS needed and there is no way to pay to get more, like 1GB of RAM in all 2014 iPhones or the crappy screen on the current iPhone 6s. If you could pay an extra $100 to get a 6S with a 1080p AMOLED screen I would own that phone right now. Or if the iPad Pro 9.7 could get a 4GB of RAM upgrade my iPad Air 2 would be on Ebay right now.

 

[blankslate]

The average smartphone user only has 5 apps on their device. 64GB is overkill for that.

I'm more bothered by your narrow-minded hyperbole and dearth of any evidence to support your claims.

64GB might be overkill but apps are not the only things people keep on their phone. All those nice slo-mo vids and 3-D pics not to mention any music collection you might want to keep on your phone so you don't have to use data to stream music eats up space.

But 16GB is too little for users who might want to have some music and other media on their phone without having to transfer it every few days or on a weekly basis
The tech savvy people I know who are fans of iPhones readily admit this and recommend the 64GB option to people they know who ask about purchasing one.

If the base model was 32GB (or if they offered a 32GB option that is less expensive) that would be in line with many Flagships released from other phone manufacturers starting in late 2014

Poofyhairguy has a point that businesses might want to hand out 16GB models to employees because they are cheaper and employees probably shouldn't be putting a whole bunch of stuff on there anyway. Seems like a niche case that doesn't relate to people buying smartphones for their own personal use.

but for most users today and back in 2015 16GB was a standard low end option for a flagship that few other manufacturers would dare to put out (and if they did more they probably had an microSD expansion option).

Some Flagships from late 2014 already had 32GB as the lowest storage option.


http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_g4-6901.php
LG G4 32GB storage Released early 2015

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note_4-6434.php
Samsung Note 4 32GB storage Released Oct. 2014

http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_one_m9-6891.php
HTC M9 March 2015 32GB storage

As concerned as you are about hyperbole I think that you are pretty willing for forgive cutting corners of specifications because the iPhone is from Apple.

*e2a*

My point is that Apple knows exactly what they're doing, and not just for SE series, but all of their phones (starting from iPhone 5, I think). History will record that their phones are priced 'from $x' as the entry level price, while most people would look at the 16 GB storage, passed on that one and get the version that's $(x+100) to get the 64 GB storage instead.

I don't disagree with that hypothesis.


______________

 

[blankslate]

I've had 6 SD cards just up and die on me, I've never had a phone's internal memory do that. I'll gladly pay a premium for faster, more reliable storage every day of the week.

On the other hand, I've been using the same SD-card for the last 3 years (on two different phones).

I also have not had any SD cards die but i am sure there are quality micro SD cards and crappy ones just like every other product.

I have had not microSD (or SD) cards fail on me yet... but I tend to go for the Samsung Pro microSDs when they are sale (as much as 60% off if you're lucky) at Fry's and other name brand microSD and SD cards.

I guess if you choose the ones that offer at least a 10 year warranty they put a little more into the quality checks.

Or I could be just lucky so far



_____________

 

[Eug]

I don't actually mind phones starting at 16 GB. What I do mind is the cost. At the costs of the flagship iPhones, they should start at 32 GB.

OTOH, the iPhone SE is their new "low end" phone, so 16 GB makes sense. At least don't have an 8 GB version like we did with the 5C.

---

P.S. Here's an iPhone SE teardown.

https://www.chipworks.com/about-chipworks/overview/blog/apple-iphone-se-teardown

 

[Zaap]

Me either.

People forget that Apple mostly replaced Blackberry as "the business phone." The 16GB model isn't enough for a personal phone, but for a business phone you shouldn't be installing the next great game or taking a bunch of pictures. If you just need a phone that can run iOS, get email and run the one app your business needs 16GB is fine.

I don't see 16GB as a bad starting point for exactly reasons like this. It's 8GB (of which only at best 6GB ends up usable) that's an absolute farce in 2016 and hopefully has died out.

 

[gorcorps]

Me either.

People forget that Apple mostly replaced Blackberry as "the business phone." The 16GB model isn't enough for a personal phone, but for a business phone you shouldn't be installing the next great game or taking a bunch of pictures. If you just need a phone that can run iOS, get email and run the one app your business needs 16GB is fine.

I actually don't mind Apple being stingy about the storage because you can upgrade it by paying more. What drives me nuts is when they save a buck to cut down something that IS needed and there is no way to pay to get more, like 1GB of RAM in all 2014 iPhones or the crappy screen on the current iPhone 6s. If you could pay an extra $100 to get a 6S with a 1080p AMOLED screen I would own that phone right now. Or if the iPad Pro 9.7 could get a 4GB of RAM upgrade my iPad Air 2 would be on Ebay right now.

Maybe some companies, but not all. IPhones are expensive and only go to certain executives at my company. The rest of us still get BBs or now windows phones.