In its latest round of incognito updates that brought about a red iPhone and an updated iPad, Apple quietly and discreetly killed the most infuriating aspect of its smartphones—the 16GB variant. The 16GB option was bypassed for a 32GB option in the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus back in September, but Apple still smugly sold the storage option of the iPhone SE for $399.
The new four-inch-display iPhone comes with either 32GB or 128GB onboard storage, replacing the prior 16GB and 64GB models — but with only a small price-tag bump for the more capacious model (+ $50, to $499), and no price change for the $399 starter model.
As with all iOS devices, there’s no ability for users to expand storage capacity themselves via a removable memory card. You get what you’re given on the storage front — so being given more is very welcome.
The iPhone SE will now be available in 32GB and 128GB variants and will be priced at $399 and $499 respectively.
The 16GB option was first introduced with the iPhone 3G in 2008, when 16GB was more than enough space. It eventually became the entry level iPhone model for the iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, but that changed with the iPhone 7. The writing was on the wall, but it still took Apple six more months to finally do away with the 16GB option.
Apple probably saw high profit margins with the 16GB models, but all consumers ever saw was “Storage Full” notifications. If you were savvy enough to cut down the amount of apps you had and used services such as Google Photos to back up your photo collection, you may have survived with a 16GB iPhone. But the rest of us begrudgingly shelled out the extra money for higher storage.
What made Apple’s slow action to move up to higher default storage option more frustrating was that other smartphone makers were either moving up to 32GB, 64GB or incorporating expandable storage. This move was long overdue.
It is with a bit of sadness and joy we bid farewell to the 16GB iPhone. For many iPhone fans, it’s the only storage option they’ve ever known. It was a good run that turned sour in the end and we’re glad it’s over.
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