Both 'iPhone 7' and 'iPhone 7 Plus' will come in 256GB capacities - report
This year's iPhone upgrades will be more spacious than ever, according to a new report, which claims Apple is "certain" to increase the maximum storage size to a whopping 256 gigabytes.
Research firm TrendForce reported on Wednesday that Apple has "settled on most of the specs for the next iPhone." Most of the details they shared have already been reported, including 3 gigabytes of RAM exclusive to the larger 5.5-inch "iPhone 7 Plus."
But the report did reveal that Apple apparently plans to offer a new, high-end 256-gigabyte capacity for this year's iPhone upgrade. In addition, the 256-gigabyte option will reportedly be available for both the "iPhone 7" and the larger Plus variant.
While TrendForce believes the 256-gigabyte option is a certainty, the rest of the capacity options may not yet be finalized. Wednesday's report indicated that Apple is still unsure whether to discontinue the 64-gigabyte capacity and replace it with the 128-gigabyte version. Currently, the iPhone lineup maxes out at 128 gigabytes.
The decisions have apparently been helped by a steep drop in the price of NAND flash since the second half of 2015.
Separately, IHS analyst Kevin Wang posted on Sina Weibo this week, claiming that the new entry-level capacity for the "iPhone 7" will be 32 gigabytes, ditching the 16-gigabyte storage level. However, the fact that Wang posted his scoop on social media, and did not publish it in an IHS report, makes the claims more suspect.
TrendForce, meanwhile, made no mention of the entry-level model's capacity.
It did, however, reaffirm that only the 5.5-inch "iPhone 7 Plus" will gain Apple's new dual-lens camera design. That's consistent with earlier reports suggesting the smaller 4.7-inch model will retain a single-lens camera.
Aside from those changes, the research firm expects that the "iPhone 7" series will look largely identical to its predecessors, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6. Most notably, Apple is expected to stick with the same LCD panel technology this year, before upgrading to an OLED display in 2017.
Given the lack of a major external redesign, TrendForce believes iPhone production for 2016 will reach 216.5 million units. If accurate, that would be an 8.2 percent decrease from 2015.
Research firm TrendForce reported on Wednesday that Apple has "settled on most of the specs for the next iPhone." Most of the details they shared have already been reported, including 3 gigabytes of RAM exclusive to the larger 5.5-inch "iPhone 7 Plus."
But the report did reveal that Apple apparently plans to offer a new, high-end 256-gigabyte capacity for this year's iPhone upgrade. In addition, the 256-gigabyte option will reportedly be available for both the "iPhone 7" and the larger Plus variant.
While TrendForce believes the 256-gigabyte option is a certainty, the rest of the capacity options may not yet be finalized. Wednesday's report indicated that Apple is still unsure whether to discontinue the 64-gigabyte capacity and replace it with the 128-gigabyte version. Currently, the iPhone lineup maxes out at 128 gigabytes.
The decisions have apparently been helped by a steep drop in the price of NAND flash since the second half of 2015.
Separately, IHS analyst Kevin Wang posted on Sina Weibo this week, claiming that the new entry-level capacity for the "iPhone 7" will be 32 gigabytes, ditching the 16-gigabyte storage level. However, the fact that Wang posted his scoop on social media, and did not publish it in an IHS report, makes the claims more suspect.
TrendForce, meanwhile, made no mention of the entry-level model's capacity.
It did, however, reaffirm that only the 5.5-inch "iPhone 7 Plus" will gain Apple's new dual-lens camera design. That's consistent with earlier reports suggesting the smaller 4.7-inch model will retain a single-lens camera.
Aside from those changes, the research firm expects that the "iPhone 7" series will look largely identical to its predecessors, the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6. Most notably, Apple is expected to stick with the same LCD panel technology this year, before upgrading to an OLED display in 2017.
Given the lack of a major external redesign, TrendForce believes iPhone production for 2016 will reach 216.5 million units. If accurate, that would be an 8.2 percent decrease from 2015.
Comments
I don’t know anyone with a 16GB iPhone that uses it beyond the basics that doesn’t have to manage space by deleting things all the time. I tell people: buy the 32GB model if you are going to use it for more than just stock apps. Those deciding to ignore that advice to save a bit of cash always regret it, and complain about having to pick and chose apps or music or pictures. It’s time Apple ditch the 16GB models since iOS and its bundled apps use up about half the space on the devices. They probably should have done this when they released the 6 and kept the same price points, especially considering NAND memory is now <$25 per 64GB for consumer flash memory cards. At large volumes, Apple probably saves less than $10 using 16GB instead of 32GB NAND.
But Apple has no real impetus to push the envelope as long as all their competitors are struggling to keep up with iOS device performance, timely upgrades & device compatibility. To me it’s a squandered opportunity, but while it might be “money saving,” Apple really doesn’t need to save money more than they need to lead in minimum storage capacity.
Not necessarily. After a few hours of HD video and photos (~10GB), adding a few thousand tracks at lossless audio fidelity (~60GB) & a good collection of 500MB–2GB games (~35GB) fills up 128GB easily. My iPad Air 128GB without everything I could load that’s not video takes up most of the room (7.8GB free).
I might not load as much video on my iPhone, but my iPod classic has over 150GB of music compressed to 256AAC on it. I’d like to place my entire music collection (ripped from CD & purchased lossless) on a small form factor device, but that would be over 750GB.
I realize I’m not a typical user, but there are a decent number of us out there.
Perhaps not. At this point, with 4K video recording, higher resolution photos, live photos, bigger apps, etc - they may be able to continue to do a reasonable up-sell with a 32GB base model, if the next model up for $100 is 128GB. If so, expect Phil to really sell the need for the higher capacities highlighting all these great video and photo features.
32GB as base model is something that would prompt many to upgrade from their old phones to the iPhone 7 series as well.
My iPhone is via work, and they do not offer us the choice to purchase a higher capacity (even with own money), so I certainly hope for a base model storage bump.
Where are all of these Apple appologists now?
As for the iPhone, Apple should definitely no longer be selling iPhones with only 16GB. If you use the phone for almost anything Apple suggests, you can't.