The successor to the iPhone 6s, presumably called iPhone 7, might have more storage than any previous iPhone.
Following a report in January that mentioned the possibility of Apple selling the iPhone 7 with a whopping 256GB of storage, the Italian website HDblog (via MacRumors) shared photos of a new 256GB flash memory chip from Sandisk that could work with a next-gen smartphone like the iPhone 7.
The photo above shows Sandisk’s new 256GB flash chip sitting on top of the older — and much larger — 64GB chip.
Given how the smaller chip has four times more storage capacity than the larger chip, this photo is a great demonstration of Moore’s law, which says the number of transistors in a circuit — and thus, a computer's overall processing power — doubles approximately every two years, and that allows companies like Sandisk to create chipsets that are more powerful but also smaller compared to older models.
MacRumors notes that Apple has used Sandisk’s flash chips in previous iPhone models — as recent as the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. But regardless of which company makes the memory chip, it will need to be small, given how Apple is reportedly trying to shave millimeters off the iPhone’s thickness and the only way to do that is to use smaller chips (to offset the phone's large battery).
If Apple does indeed introduce a 256GB storage option for the iPhone, we really hope the company will finally do away with the iPhone’s starting storage of 16GB. As we’ve noted over the years, 16GB is hardly enough space to actually enjoy what the iPhone has to offer, especially in terms of apps, music, and all the text messages that pile up. So, while more storage sounds great, we’d really like to see Apple bump up all the storage configurations.
Storage aside, we’re expecting lots of other changes in the iPhone 7, including a new design, new camera architecture, and much more. It might not even have a headphone jack. We’ll likely learn more in September, which is when we’re expecting Apple to reveal the iPhone 7. In the meantime, Apple is expected to announce another new iPhone much sooner than that. Apple has an event planned for March 21, where we’re expecting to see a new 4-inch iPhone and a new iPad, among other goodies.
