4 ms·

So does this mean Apple will finally stop shipping a 16GB iPhone as entry level?

by ryanmarsh 11y ago

simlevesque 11y ago
The iPhone storage is eMMC, not SSD.
- ansible 11y ago
  While they don't use the exact same chips, they are both based on the same NAND Flash storage technology. On a per-GB basis, I'd expect the prices for SSDs and eMMC to track for the foreseeable future.
Teckla 11y ago
So does this mean Apple will finally stop shipping a 16GB iPhone as entry level? Not to mention the iPad. The original iPad came out over 5 years ago with 16 GB of storage. Entry level iPads still have 16 GB of storage. Given that iOS has gotten bigger and retina iPads made a lot of apps bigger, entry level iPad storage has actually regressed considerably. Pretty confusing, given that flash prices have gone down considerably in 5 years. I guess you don't bank $200 billion by being generous to your customers.
- keithly 11y ago
  They want to push customers to use iCloud for data storage.
  - hueving 11y ago
    No, they want to squeeze an extra $100 out of you for $5 of flash storage. Most people will pay it too because 16GB is pretty crippling. It's like buying a new car that comes with a 5 gallon gas tank that costs $40,000 and having to pay $50,000 for the same model except with a 10 gallon tank. Everyone knows it's a rip off but the car is really cool otherwise and there is no way to change the tank yourself.
- curun1r 11y ago
  Complaining about overpriced/limited storage options in the iPad/iPhone is like complaining about overpriced/limited food options at a sporting event, airport or any other venue where you've got no other option than to buy from an approved vendor. With lock-in comes higher prices.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    There's no lock-in what's at play here for most people. You can get a tablet/smartphone from several vendors, including Samsung, Google and Microsoft and people switch from iOs to Android and back all the time. It's not like apps are a huge investment or that it's hard to move your data across. These people WANT to buy the iPad/iPhone, instead of something else. So a more accurate response would be "with desirability come higher prices".
    - simplexion 11y ago
      We have students who WANT to buy Apple products like crazy at the school I work at. The majority of responses for why they want them is, "They look pretty."
      - coldtea 11y ago
        Well, they do. But as a seasoned IT pro who cut his teeth on Sun OS and HP-UX back in the day, having a high end machine, with a great screen, great battery life and quite light to carry around that also has a friendly UI and runs a full blown UNIX underneath but also gets all major proprietary programs is nothing to sneer at either, pretty or not. There's a reason even Linus Torvalds carried a MacBook Air (though I think he found something even lighter now).
TorKlingberg 11y ago
Are there any estimates of the proportion of iPhone and iPads sold that are 16 GB? I would guess it's more than 50%.
smartician 11y ago
Not to mention the crazy price structure of MacBook Pros. The 13 inch model with a 128GB SSD is $1299, but if you want 256GB, you have to shell out $200 more. I don't think this price difference is justified just by SSD prices. Is this just Apple being stubborn with their price marketing? Is it to preserve the perceived resale value?
- j1e 11y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination
WildUtah 11y ago
Apple's storage pricing model would be unsustainable in a competitive environment. Entry level products with 16GB exist solely to establish a 'free' subsidized level while practical use requires a US$750 64GB model. Ordinarily Samsung and Moto would make a phone of similar quality and charge the market rate of $8 for the 64GB upgrade to undercut Apple. Unfortunately it's not a competitive market. Apple's 2013 iPhone 5S still has lower power use and more processing power the current Samsung phones because Apple invested in chip design and shipped an AArch64 chip Samsung can't match even with two years (1.33 Moore's Law cycles) of process upgrades and access to Apple's tapeouts. Apple's screen process is still brighter with more faithful colors. Apple's case design is still more fashionable (even though I don't like the latest ones, they look slick). Apple's net software and services like maps and backup are catching up to Google and ahead of M'soft or anyone else. Apple still has better control over power consumption and background processing in its OS. Apple's user experience is still clearly better and easier than Samsung or Google. A lot of that is Google losing interest in Motorola, the Nexus brand, and Android. The Nexus 5 was the last inexpensive high quality pure Android effort and it wasn't profitable. Motorola wasn't worth keeping. Android is good enough to keep Apple and Microsoft from squeezing Google off the net and that's all Google needs. Google hasn't even updated Android to take advantage of AArch64 which cripples all the Android phone makers against Apple. Ultimately, Google knows that they can't compete against Apple because carriers have contempt for quality. No other maker but Apple has loyal and lucrative customers that will switch carriers to keep using Apple devices. Thus no other manufacturer has leverage to get the best quality devices it can make to users. Carriers want your phone crippled because they dream of controlling you and governments hand them monopolies so they can control your device maker. The result is that only Apple can make a top flight device. And therefore they can use monopoly price discrimination tactics to bleed extra money from you for 64GB. It beats the alternative which is carriers ruining all devices including Apple. I like Apple robbing me a lot more than AT&T or Telcel or Softbank or NT&T or China Mobile or Verizon.
TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
> So does this mean Apple will finally stop shipping a 16GB iPhone as entry level? Apple's current entry level product, the iPhone 5C, ships with 8GB. I have one. It's a little bit of a squeeze, but iOS 9 will alleviate that.

So does this mean Apple will finally stop shipping a 16GB iPhone as entry level?

simlevesque 11y ago

The iPhone storage is eMMC, not SSD.

ansible 11y ago
While they don't use the exact same chips, they are both based on the same NAND Flash storage technology. On a per-GB basis, I'd expect the prices for SSDs and eMMC to track for the foreseeable future.

Teckla 11y ago

So does this mean Apple will finally stop shipping a 16GB iPhone as entry level? Not to mention the iPad. The original iPad came out over 5 years ago with 16 GB of storage. Entry level iPads still have 16 GB of storage. Given that iOS has gotten bigger and retina iPads made a lot of apps bigger, entry level iPad storage has actually regressed considerably. Pretty confusing, given that flash prices have gone down considerably in 5 years. I guess you don't bank $200 billion by being generous to your customers.

keithly 11y ago
They want to push customers to use iCloud for data storage.
- hueving 11y ago
  No, they want to squeeze an extra $100 out of you for $5 of flash storage. Most people will pay it too because 16GB is pretty crippling. It's like buying a new car that comes with a 5 gallon gas tank that costs $40,000 and having to pay $50,000 for the same model except with a 10 gallon tank. Everyone knows it's a rip off but the car is really cool otherwise and there is no way to change the tank yourself.
curun1r 11y ago
Complaining about overpriced/limited storage options in the iPad/iPhone is like complaining about overpriced/limited food options at a sporting event, airport or any other venue where you've got no other option than to buy from an approved vendor. With lock-in comes higher prices.
- coldtea 11y ago
  There's no lock-in what's at play here for most people. You can get a tablet/smartphone from several vendors, including Samsung, Google and Microsoft and people switch from iOs to Android and back all the time. It's not like apps are a huge investment or that it's hard to move your data across. These people WANT to buy the iPad/iPhone, instead of something else. So a more accurate response would be "with desirability come higher prices".
  - simplexion 11y ago
    We have students who WANT to buy Apple products like crazy at the school I work at. The majority of responses for why they want them is, "They look pretty."
    - coldtea 11y ago
      Well, they do. But as a seasoned IT pro who cut his teeth on Sun OS and HP-UX back in the day, having a high end machine, with a great screen, great battery life and quite light to carry around that also has a friendly UI and runs a full blown UNIX underneath but also gets all major proprietary programs is nothing to sneer at either, pretty or not. There's a reason even Linus Torvalds carried a MacBook Air (though I think he found something even lighter now).

TorKlingberg 11y ago

Are there any estimates of the proportion of iPhone and iPads sold that are 16 GB? I would guess it's more than 50%.

smartician 11y ago

Not to mention the crazy price structure of MacBook Pros. The 13 inch model with a 128GB SSD is $1299, but if you want 256GB, you have to shell out $200 more. I don't think this price difference is justified just by SSD prices. Is this just Apple being stubborn with their price marketing? Is it to preserve the perceived resale value?

j1e 11y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination

WildUtah 11y ago

Apple's storage pricing model would be unsustainable in a competitive environment. Entry level products with 16GB exist solely to establish a 'free' subsidized level while practical use requires a US$750 64GB model. Ordinarily Samsung and Moto would make a phone of similar quality and charge the market rate of $8 for the 64GB upgrade to undercut Apple. Unfortunately it's not a competitive market. Apple's 2013 iPhone 5S still has lower power use and more processing power the current Samsung phones because Apple invested in chip design and shipped an AArch64 chip Samsung can't match even with two years (1.33 Moore's Law cycles) of process upgrades and access to Apple's tapeouts. Apple's screen process is still brighter with more faithful colors. Apple's case design is still more fashionable (even though I don't like the latest ones, they look slick). Apple's net software and services like maps and backup are catching up to Google and ahead of M'soft or anyone else. Apple still has better control over power consumption and background processing in its OS. Apple's user experience is still clearly better and easier than Samsung or Google. A lot of that is Google losing interest in Motorola, the Nexus brand, and Android. The Nexus 5 was the last inexpensive high quality pure Android effort and it wasn't profitable. Motorola wasn't worth keeping. Android is good enough to keep Apple and Microsoft from squeezing Google off the net and that's all Google needs. Google hasn't even updated Android to take advantage of AArch64 which cripples all the Android phone makers against Apple. Ultimately, Google knows that they can't compete against Apple because carriers have contempt for quality. No other maker but Apple has loyal and lucrative customers that will switch carriers to keep using Apple devices. Thus no other manufacturer has leverage to get the best quality devices it can make to users. Carriers want your phone crippled because they dream of controlling you and governments hand them monopolies so they can control your device maker. The result is that only Apple can make a top flight device. And therefore they can use monopoly price discrimination tactics to bleed extra money from you for 64GB. It beats the alternative which is carriers ruining all devices including Apple. I like Apple robbing me a lot more than AT&T or Telcel or Softbank or NT&T or China Mobile or Verizon.

TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago

> So does this mean Apple will finally stop shipping a 16GB iPhone as entry level? Apple's current entry level product, the iPhone 5C, ships with 8GB. I have one. It's a little bit of a squeeze, but iOS 9 will alleviate that.