Other Would you buy a 16gb iphone in 2023?

[RedTheReader]

Super idea! An iPhone with very simplistic versions of Phone, FaceTime, and Messages — I mean, suitable for a toddler simple — would be a godsend for us who are tech support for senior parents or other anti-tech people. I’m all about being helpful but my parents are very opposed to change, including a strong lack of effort to learn anything new.

P.S. My mother is someone in the club that can somehow "butt dial" an iPhone.

Apple is adding something like this with iOS 17. Take a look if it’s actually something you’d want your parents using or if they’d feel babied having to use it:

Apple Previews iOS 17 Accessibility Features Ahead of WWDC

Apple today previewed a wide range of new accessibility features for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac that are set to arrive later this year. Apple says...

www.macrumors.com

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

No, they offer 8/256 as choices for folks with small budgets and small needs. That does not mean they recommend 8/256 as enough; Apple also offers 96 GB RAM and 8 TB mass storage.

Yeah true but they market that 256gb is 'plenty' of storage for photos and videos, when its actually not.

 

[rui no onna]

Do you think that 16gb is enough for the entry level iphones like the iphone 15 or iphone 15 pro? If apple were to make a cheaper 16gb model ($100 cheaper) would you buy it?

Absolutely not. I have a 32GB iPad 7 and I can’t even do OTA updates on that unless I offload practically all apps. Iirc, system+other takes up 16-18GB by itself.

 

[rui no onna]

This is what I use right now sense there is no 4 TB iPad or iPhone yet.

Holds me over for now.

This one often froze on me used in the car while driving on a bumpy road.

 

[Crow_Servo]

Absolutely not.

128GB is the minimum on the flagship phones for a good reason. Apps and the OS alone make even 64GB seem uncomfortable.

They should probably even make the iPhone SE 128GB minimum too, but if people can make 64GB work, that’s cool.

I’d never recommend going below 128GB storage in 2023.

 

[Duncan-UK]

While I agree this thread seems silly, I don't understand the problem you have with a hypothetical questioning the amount of storage actually needed in contrast to price. There are quite a few threads about downgrading, and this is a similar topic, even if 16GB sounds silly present day. I have known a lot of people who pay for far more storage than they need due to ignorance, some could run 16GB. If you want editorial pieces the front page exists, if you see a post on forums you're not interested in you're welcome to disregard.

It’s because in 2023 it’s such a foolish and uninformed question to ask. Frankly it was bad enough with Apple serving up the 5C with an 8gb option all those years ago.

 

[Apple$]

It’s because in 2023 it’s such a foolish and uninformed question to ask. Frankly it was bad enough with Apple serving up the 5C with an 8gb option all those years ago.

I can imagine the people who bought the 8 GB 5C probably threw them at the wall.

 

[fwmireault]

I think I could live with 64 GB, but it would definitely not allow me to have as many apps and pictures as I have now. I think 128 GB is a sweet spot for most people, and 256 GB for more heavy users (as a base model of course)

 

[Bananasaurus]

I have apps that are more than 16 GB. So no.

 

[SpotOnT]

lol the OS needs more than 16GB!

256GB is min in my book…and I am really talking min.

 

[MacCheetah3]

Apple is adding something like this with iOS 17. Take a look if it’s actually something you’d want your parents using or if they’d feel babied having to use it:

Apple Previews iOS 17 Accessibility Features Ahead of WWDC

Apple today previewed a wide range of new accessibility features for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac that are set to arrive later this year. Apple says...

www.macrumors.com

Interesting. 🤔 It could be worth a try at some point.

 

[nathansz]

16 might be small just for the os now but 32 for sure

I don’t take pictures and don’t store anything on my phone.

I’d buy one with a lot less camera too if it would make it cheaper

 

[nathansz]

lol the OS needs more than 16GB!

256GB is min in my book…and I am really talking min.

I have 64 and barely ever use half

 

[nathansz]

Absolutely not.

128GB is the minimum on the flagship phones for a good reason. Apps and the OS alone make even 64GB seem uncomfortable.

They should probably even make the iPhone SE 128GB minimum too, but if people can make 64GB work, that’s cool.

I’d never recommend going below 128GB storage in 2023.

I have no issues with 64

 

[george88]

Oh yea some people are right ios takes up space so 16gb would actually be a bit less like maybe 10gb or so.. I meant if you actually had 16gb not if you had 10 because of ios

 

[solq]

Do you think that 16gb is enough for the entry level iphones like the iphone 15 or iphone 15 pro? If apple were to make a cheaper 16gb model ($100 cheaper) would you buy it?

I wouldn't buy under 512Gb, I cannot fit my music.

 

[GoofyCyborg]

I wouldn't even contemplate buying a 64GB device these days. 128GB is the bare minimum any device should be shipped with! I'm not even a heavy user and I would struggle with 64GB of storage.

 

[rui no onna]

Oh yea some people are right ios takes up space so 16gb would actually be a bit less like maybe 10gb or so.. I meant if you actually had 16gb not if you had 10 because of ios

Frankly, you’d need like 32-40GB of storage to get 16GB usable (depending on how large Other grows) and that’s just with iOS 16.

Caveat, you need to keep free space available for maintenance and iOS keeps getting bigger. Like I mentioned earlier, I couldn’t even do OTA updates on a 32GB iPad with iOS 17 beta. I had to delete almost all my apps because it wanted like 10GB free for the update.

At this point in time, even 64GB is tight.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

Super idea! An iPhone with very simplistic versions of Phone, FaceTime, and Messages — I mean, suitable for a toddler simple — would be a godsend for us who are tech support for senior parents or other anti-tech people. I’m all about being helpful but my parents are very opposed to change, including a strong lack of effort to learn anything new.

P.S. My mother is someone in the club that can somehow "butt dial" an iPhone.

Maybe take a look at Assistive Access. It's available in iOS 17.

Meet Assistive Access - WWDC23 - Videos - Apple Developer

Learn how Assistive Access can help people with cognitive disabilities more easily use iPhone and iPad. Discover the design principles...

developer.apple.com

 

[SpotOnT]

Oh yea some people are right ios takes up space so 16gb would actually be a bit less like maybe 10gb or so.. I meant if you actually had 16gb not if you had 10 because of ios

If I go to storage on my iPhone 8, iOS is 7.75 GB, System Data is 10.9 GB and many stock apps are another few GB (Music is 2.5 GB for example and the only thing I use the app for is listening to the radio).

But OK, if your question is, “Is 16GB of free space enough for an iPhone user”…well that obviously depends on the user. Do you text people photos? Do you want to keep your texts long term or do you delete them every 30 days? Do you pay for iCloud storage? Do you take a lot of photos/videos? Do you download media to watch on the airplane or when traveling? It is going to be too user specific.

My guess is that most users who wants to pay for an iPhone Pro, will want to use the features on their phone beyond 16GB of free space. Users who buy an iPhone SE on the other hand, might be content with less space. And we see that, with iPhone SE storage size starting at 64GB.

Anyway, Apple themselves pay next to nothing for the phones SSD. So them lower the storage size, wouldn’t impact their asking price.

 

[goku_vegeta]

Nobody wants less storage on their iPhone. 16 GB is unusable on a modern iPhone.

 

[Nebrie]

This one often froze on me used in the car while driving on a bumpy road.

Yeah, don't do that with spinning disk drives. The vibrations will eventually destroy it.

 

[Applɘ Aꙅylum]

Imagine going on a 2 week long vacation driving across the good ol' USA with a iPhone that has only 16gb storage.

So many places you'd want to take photos of in 4k but ended up home with pics in 320p.

 

[rui no onna]

Yeah, don't do that with spinning disk drives. The vibrations will eventually destroy it.

I figured even if it dies, the WD Passport Wireless is still way cheaper and easier to get up and running than a DIY rig with RPi + Lithium-based battery pack + $600 2TB SSD. Beggars can’t be choosers.

The data on the Passport isn’t critical anyway (mobile versions of movies and TV series stored on a 20TB Synology home NAS).

 

[VisceralRealist]

No, but I've noticed that 64 is still enough for my usage, even after several years. I have 128 GB because it's the new default, but I've barely using a quarter of that space. I'm not sure why phone storage capacities are increaasing at the rate that they are. Maybe I'm just not using my phone in the way that most people are.