For the last ten years, Apple has had an odd habit of nickel-and-diming customers over the cost of internal storage. Although the flash storage chip inside the iPhone normally costs Apple $20, it’s stuck with a base level of 16GB of storage for the longest time, only recently springing for a 32GB base option with the iPhone 7.
Once you’ve loaded up the OS, a couple slo-mo videos and a few Spotify playlists, it still isn’t enough for most users. Sure, you can buy iCloud storage for a couple bucks a month, but the more logical solution for Apple would be to have a base option fo 64GB, much like most flagship Android phones.
According to a supply-chain report from TrendForce, that’s exactly what will happen with the iPhone 8. Per the report, the new flagship iPhone 8 will ship with 64GB or 256GB of internal storage, which is good news, considering the cheapest version of the iPhone 8 could cost more than $1,000.
It’s not all rainbows and unicorns in iPhone rumor land, though. The same report suggests the the still-new-but-cheaper iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus will both retain the 32GB entry-level option, although the top end will still be 256GB.
It’s a clever spec and pricing strategy for Apple. Let’s say the entry-level iPhone 8, with 64GB of memory and 3GB of RAM costs $1,000, while the 32GB/2GB iPhone 7s runs $699. To get sufficient storage, you’d have to upgrade to the model with 128GB of memory, which could well cost around $850. Once people are already spending that much, there’s a good chance that they’ll spend a little extra and get the iPhone 8. But for people who are already looking for spare pennies to afford the entry-level iPhone 7s, the lower pricepoint will remain.
Apart from more storage, the iPhone 8 is rumored to have a dual-camera system much like the one found on the iPhone 7 Plus, an all-glass front display with minimal bezel, and quite possibly no physical buttons.
