iCloud Storage Increase

[rui no onna]

Apple only charges $1 a month for 50GB.

This charge is not so much a money grab, it's to keep there from being abandoned accounts with dozens of GB of data that Apple has to keep around forever even though the account isn't used anymore.

Charging a token amount like $1 a month ensures that someone is actually using it. If they leave the platform they'll stop paying, and Apple can eventually delete the data.

Just pay the freaking $1 a month; this isn't going to break the bank for anyone who can afford Apple products and a cellular plan. But who am I kidding, people are going to be arguing about this until the end of time.

Is it really such a paltry sum, though?

$0.99 x 100 million subscribers = $99 million per month or $1.188 billion per year.

Mind, last I heard, Apple has an install base of 1.5 billion devices.

P.S. Yes, I'm subscribed to iCloud ($2.99/200GB family share plan). It's a fair price for what it offers (hassle-free, offsite device and photos backups). Certainly a lot more reasonable for families compared to Dropbox's plans.

 

[26139]

Is it really such a paltry sum, though?

$0.99 x 100 million subscribers = $99 million per month or $1.188 billion per year.

Mind, last I heard, Apple has an install base of 1.5 billion devices.

It's a paltry sum to the person paying it. I don't see the relevance in how many people are subscribing.

Maintaining digital storage costs money, man.

 

[rui no onna]

It's a paltry sum to the person paying it. I don't see the relevance in how many people are subscribing.

Maintaining digital storage costs money, man.

I know it costs money. I don't think the $0.99/mo is "giveaway" pricing for Apple though but simply a fair price and something that's factored in to their revenue forecasts.

 

[marty1980]

The old adage goes you should probably not have an iPhone if you can’t or don’t want to pay 79p per month for the 50gb of iCloud storage.

That’s the view of someone who has lived a privileged life and not experienced many, if any, hardships. Who TF are you to tell someone that their financial status disqualifies them from owning an iPhone?

People can get by without iCloud storage. It’s not that big of a deal. And I agree the cost is very reasonable.

My post isn’t even strictly about the affordability of iCloud. It’s that the 5GB was given to people to have a free and secure backup of their most basic iPhone data to make it easier for people to upgrade and recover in case of a lost device. It’s a perk to keep customers coming back to Apple. I believe that those basic backups have grown significantly over the years and think a little bump in that free storage would ensure they don’t start losing customers because the customers stop backing up devices through iCloud and that eliminates one of the reasons to stick with iPhone going forward.

 

[26139]

That’s the view of someone who has lived a privileged life and not experienced many, if any, hardships. Who TF are you to tell someone that their financial status disqualifies them from owning an iPhone?

People can get by without iCloud storage. It’s not that big of a deal. And I agree the cost is very reasonable.

My post isn’t even strictly about the affordability of iCloud. It’s that the 5GB was given to people to have a free and secure backup of their most basic iPhone data to make it easier for people to upgrade and recover in case of a lost device. It’s a perk to keep customers coming back to Apple. I believe that those basic backups have grown significantly over the years and think a little bump in that free storage would ensure they don’t start losing customers because the customers stop backing up devices through iCloud and that eliminates one of the reasons to stick with iPhone going forward.

Does any other company offer free, secure online storage while guaranteeing privacy?

I’m not sure how this person is showing his privilege by saying that people who can’t afford to maintain their devices should maybe think twice about buying them.

 

[mrochester]

I know it costs money. I don't think the $0.99/mo is "giveaway" pricing for Apple though but simply a fair price and something that's factored in to their revenue forecasts.

I like that Apple charges fair prices for things rather than selling things below cost as a means to put competitors out of business that lots of companies engage in.

I’m personally of the belief that ‘loss-leaders’ should be completely illegal as it massively distorts competition. All products sold should have to be sold at a sustainable price rather than cross-subsidised by other income streams.

 

[marty1980]

Does any other company offer free, secure online storage while guaranteeing privacy?

I’m not sure how this person is showing his privilege by saying that people who can’t afford to maintain their devices should maybe think twice about buying them.

It doesn’t matter about what the competition is doing. Apple is already offering the free storage for a reason. I believe to maintain the value of that free service they should increase the storage amount. It’s not like I’m dropping Apple devices because of this. It’s an observation. Apple seems to be doing fine the way it is so what do I know?

The iPhone SE is made for people who focus on low cost Apple products. Apple
Also keeps the older iPhones around for years for the same reason. They care about people with less money choosing Apple.

People can buy whatever they want with their money. Whether or not you think it’s a wise investment doesn’t matter. It’s what they want and they are free to make those decisions.

 

[vbctv]

I pay $9.99 a month for the 2TB iCloud plan, I use it for my business and choose to use only the iCloud. You can still share files with non-cloud users, it just takes adjusting how to do it with the share settings. It's the perfect cloud for anyone in the Apple ecosystem. Bonus it keeps you Desktop & Documents folders also. I don't even use Time Machine anymore because almost all my files are in the iCloud.
And I feel $10 a month for 2TB is a very fair price. I mean Dropbox charges $11.99 a month for the same if you pay monthly, OneDrive only gives 1TB.

 

[akash.nu]

That’s the view of someone who has lived a privileged life and not experienced many, if any, hardships. Who TF are you to tell someone that their financial status disqualifies them from owning an iPhone?

People can buy whatever they want with their money. Whether or not you think it’s a wise investment doesn’t matter. It’s what they want and they are free to make those decisions.

This is a pointless argument. Yes people can buy whatever they want but buying it and then coming to whinge on a public forum is asking for attention, which he has received, good or bad.

The way he has the rights to portray his opinion everyone else has the rights to portray theirs as well.

If people whinge about a month of subscription that’s cheaper than a cup of coffee while they’re on a device over £1k then yes that’s not a good spending habit and it has to be pointed out.

 

[zorinlynx]

My post isn’t even strictly about the affordability of iCloud. It’s that the 5GB was given to people to have a free and secure backup of their most basic iPhone data to make it easier for people to upgrade and recover in case of a lost device. It’s a perk to keep customers coming back to Apple. I believe that those basic backups have grown significantly over the years and think a little bump in that free storage would ensure they don’t start losing customers because the customers stop backing up devices through iCloud and that eliminates one of the reasons to stick with iPhone going forward.

The big thing that kills the 5GB (and will eventually kill 15GB, fairly quickly too!) are photos and videos. If you take and keep all your photos and videos, your storage requirement is going to rise in a linear fashion over time. That means that anyone who buys an iPhone for the first time will eventually run out of the 5GB no matter what.

Once you reach that 5GB, you get asked to pay the $1 a month for 50GB. At this point you're more invested in the platform and the $1 a month shouldn't be a big deal.

A lot of people these days have their phone as their only computing device. They don't have a computer or other device to back up to. They depend entirely on iCloud to keep their data safe. If that's not worth a lousy dollar a month, what is?

 

[marty1980]

This is a pointless argument. Yes people can buy whatever they want but buying it and then coming to whinge on a public forum is asking for attention, which he has received, good or bad.

The way he has the rights to portray his opinion everyone else has the rights to portray theirs as well.

If people whinge about a month of subscription that’s cheaper than a cup of coffee while they’re on a device over £1k then yes that’s not a good spending habit and it has to be pointed out.

Nobody has commented who is in that position. I am not whining about the cost. Nobody is. I have just pointed out that there are iPhone users who won’t/can’t pay for more storage.

This post is not supposed to be about how much it costs. It’s about Apple offering a service and asking if that service could/should be changed.

The other person acts like iPhones are only for the privileged. I’m saying that’s not true and they shouldn’t be so pretentious about it.

 

[akash.nu]

Nobody has commented who is in that position. I am not whining about the cost. Nobody is. I have just pointed out that there are iPhone users who won’t/can’t pay for more storage.

This post is not supposed to be about how much it costs. It’s about Apple offering a service and asking if that service could/should be changed.

The other person acts like iPhones are only for the privileged. I’m saying that’s not true and they shouldn’t be so pretentious about it.

Apologies. Completely mixed up with another similar post.

 

[marzfreerider]

I would like to see them offer 15GB, considering its been 5GB for years.

 

[originalmagneto]

They should bump all the storage tiers, not only the free one.

5gb ➡︎ 50gb
50gb ➡︎ 200gb
200gb ➡︎ 500gb

The 2TB option is fair and can be left as is...

 

[yukari]

For end-to-end encryption, I use iDrive and iCloud. I subscribe to both.
Google does NOT have end-to-end encryption.
iDrive is much better value and privacy compared to Google IMHO. It's also much better value than iCloud.

 

[Steven-iphone]

For a good cloud encryption solution - boxcryptor (free version can be used with one cloud service). I use it with OneDrive, on a Windows and Android device.

 

[techwarrior]

They should make the free tier 25GB plus an additional amount large enough for device backups (or make backups free and not count towards the quota). 5GB is just too small for most people's photo libraries.

I wonder if iCloud Mac backups might become a thing?

Would also like to see more services bundled.

 

[Fred Zed]

The words Google and Free are not true. You give up your data and privacy in return for “free” app.

 

[yukari]

The words Google and Free are not true. You give up your data and privacy in return for “free” app.

Exactly!

My main reason not using any Google crap!

 

[vbctv]

Exactly!

My main reason not using any Google crap!

I switched from Gmail to iCloud mail a while back & no more spam overload, but I still use GSuite for my business until Apple ever creates their own version for businesses (crosses fingers that it happens sometime soon)...