If you’re iPhone user, you’ve probably seen the ‘Storage Almost Full’ notification
pop up on your devices screen quite a few times.
It tells you to manage your storage in settings, but usually all the apps, photos, and videos
on your device are things you’d rather not delete.
So you’re stuck deleting just enough files or apps from your iPhone that the low storage
notification stops appearing, until a week or two later when the problem comes back.
This is an experience I think most iPhone users have had for quite some time, and it
has only gotten worse in recent years.
But it’s worth noting that Android users have this issue much less often, and there
are a few reasons for that.
So in this video we’re going to find out why Apple appears to be stingy with iPhone
storage space, and how that’s effected users.
This is Greg with Apple Explained, and I want to thank iMazing for sponsoring this video.
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Limited storage space on iPhones has been a constant dark cloud over the device ever
since its release in 2007.
And as this problem grew, it only became more apparent to not only the users, but also the
competition.
Google actually took advantage of this shortcoming back in 2017 by featuring an iOS style ‘Storage
Full’ notification in a Pixel 2 commercial.
Contrasting the iPhone to their Pixel smartphone, which allowed unlimited storage through their
free cloud service.
But Apple only offered iPhone users 5GB of free iCloud storage, which is enough space
for about 1,500 photos.
And while that may sound like a lot, most users found themselves burning through their
5GB allotment within one year of device ownership.
And to make matters worse, Apple only supply’s 5GB of free space for each iCloud account.
Rather than for each device you own.
So you could be taking photos and video on your iPhone, creating iWork documents on your
iPad, and storing important files on your Mac with iCloud Drive, and you’d still be
supplied with just 5GB of space.
And maybe that amount wasn’t much of an issue back in 2011 when iCloud was released.
But a lot has changed almost a decade later, and today iCloud is responsible for storing
a lot more data than ever before.
Newer features like iCloud Drive, Messages on iCloud, and iCloud Photos have all contributed
to iPhone users relying on the service much more heavily than in 2011.
So you’d think Apple would begin allowing 5GB of iCloud storage per device, or at least
increase that amount to ten or fifteen gigabytes per account, but they haven’t.
Despite pressure from competitors like Google, who offers 15GB per account, and a cloud manager
company called Box, who offers 10GB.
I can’t tell you how many times a relative or friend has texted me asking what they have
to do to get that annoying ‘Not Enough Storage’ notification from appearing every time they
use their iPhone.
But if you take a closer look at that notification, I think it’s easy to understand why Apple
hasn’t budged.
That pop up only gives the user one solution to their problem: upgrade storage.
There’s no button that says don’t show this again or manage iCloud storage.
Likely because that wouldn’t work in Apple’s best interest.
Instead, they funnel these annoyed, frustrated users to a sales page where they can pay monthly
for more storage space.
And this is where things get interesting.
Because we all know that since 2015, Apple has been pushing new services onto their users
like never before.
It started with Apple Music, and continued with Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus, Apple
TV Plus, and the Apple Card.
But it’s important to note that iCloud subscriptions are absolutely part of the services category
which grew 16.5% last year.
Not only making it Apple’s fastest growing business, but also more valuable than the
iPad and Mac categories combine.
And there’s a reason why Apple is making this hard push into services.
Since 2015, their hardware sales have been slowing.
Resulting in the company exploring new markets and businesses for additional revenue streams.
In fact, Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, essentially
confirmed this theory in 2015.
By that time, Apple had released three generations of iPhones: the 5, 5s, and 6, all with the
same base storage of 16GB.
And users were getting tired of the limited storage, complaining that is would hardly
cost Apple anything to double the iPhone’s base storage to 32GB.
Phil Schiller responded to the complaints saying, “The belief is more and more as
we use iCloud services for documents and our photos and videos and music, that perhaps
the most price-conscious customers are able to live in an environment where they don't
need gobs of local storage because these services are lightening the load."
But of course that frustrated users, who were quick to point out that Apple only offered
5GB of free iCloud storage before they were expected to pay a monthly premium.
So what were most people forced to do when their iPhones become full?
Well, the simplest thing to do was to transfer as much as possible to our computers.
Freeing up space for more photos, videos, and apps.
And if that’s something you want to do then I highly recommend using iMazing.
That’s what I personally used to free up space on my iPhone, and they already have
over 10 million users so you know it’s legit.
Combing through my iPhone’s apps is very easy and straightforward.
Not to mention it’s ability to find specific messages, photos, files, and videos that I
want transferred to a Mac or PC.
So if you want to stop seeing that annoying full storage notification and easily free
up tens of gigabytes of space on your iPhone, you should download iMazing.
And Apple Explained viewers can get 50% off by clicking the link in the description, or
by visiting imazing.com/store and using the code iMazing50OFFAppleExplained.
Now, the iPhone’s storage space problem isn’t limited to iCloud.
The devices also have significantly less internal space than devices like the Samsung Galaxy
S20, which offers 128GB at $1,000 compared to the iPhone 11 Pro’s 64GB at the same
price.
But it gets even worse.
The Google Pixel 4 not only has 128GB of storage, but it also costs $100 less than the iPhone.
Finally, the OnePlus 8 offers 256GB of storage for $200 less than the 64GB iPhone 11 Pro.
So you can see why most Android users aren’t having much of an issue with storage space.
Especially considering some of those devices have something called a microSD slot.
Which is something most iPhone users have probably never heard of since it has never
been included with Apple’s smartphones.
A microSD slot allows users to expand upon their existing internal storage with microSD
cards.
You can buy them in a variety of sizes, with the maximum amount depending upon the device’s
limitations.
For example the Galaxy S20 supports microSD cards up to 1TB.
That means the S20 could potentially have 1,128GB of internal space, exceeding most
desktop computers.
Although I should mention that most Android devices, like the OnePlus and Google Pixel,
don’t support microSD.
And there are good reasons for this.
Not only does the SD card slot take up valuable real estate inside the device, but it’s
also a much slower than internal storage, resulting in uneven performance.
Still though, if you take lots of photos and videos, it might be worth dealing with those
shortcomings rather than being stuck with an iPhone that has no storage left.
But this storage space problem isn’t limited to Apple’s smartphones, it’s also been
an ongoing issue with their computers.
I recently made a video called ‘The Mac’s Storage Space Problem’ which I encourage
you to check out if you haven’t already.
But when it comes to the iPhone, the storage situation is slightly different.
Mainly because people use their smartphones much differently than their computers.
For example, you wouldn’t carry your MacBook around and take photos or videos with its
720p front facing camera.
That’s something you’d do with your iPhone.
And users have grown accustom to doing it so much, that it’s the number one reason
why their storage is filling up so quickly.
Just look at this study from 2014 which suggested that 42% of iPhone users run out of space
at least once a month.
With 20% running out at least once a week.
And that was before the iPhone 6S was released a year later, sporting a new camera system
capable of recording 4K video.
Which takes up almost three times more space than 1080p video footage.
So of course Apple finally gave in with the iPhone 6S and included 32GB of storage with
the base model, right?
Well, no.
They actually continued to include just 16GB with the 6S, despite the complaints from users,
despite it’s ability to record 4K video that requires more space, and despite just
that year doubling the size limit of apps from 2 to 4GB.
Now eventually Apple did increase the base storage of the iPhone 7 to 32GB, but the fact
that Apple has consistently lagged behind the competition when it comes to storage space
is something users are getting tired of.
But there may be some light at the end of the tunnel.
Because when it comes to the Mac, Apple recently doubled the Mac Mini and MacBook Air’s base
storage to 256GB.
Which was a surprise especially considering the Air’s $100 price reduction.
And when considering the iPhone’s storage, there is a large gulf between the base model
at 64GB, and the next step up at 256GB.
So I would venture a guess that this year’s Pro-level iPhones will include 128GB of storage
with the base model, although I doubt the entry level iPhone 11 replacement model will
receive the same treatment.
Alright guys thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time.