The new iPhone SE is now up for pre-order.
It comes in two configurations: a 16-gigabyte version for $399, and a 64-gigabyte version for $499.
The iPhone SE is an incredible value because you get a top of the line iPhone with the latest camera, processors, and other features, for a fraction of the price of a bigger-screened iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. Those phones, which came out a few months ago, start at $649 and $749 for their respective 16-gigabyte models.
I still think, however, that it would be a mistake for most people to buy the 16GB model of the iPhone SE. That's the less expensive $399 version, and therefore the most tempting one to pick up. I sympathize.
Instead, you should spend $100 more and get the 64 gigabyte version, which of course has four times the storage.
It's something I have written about before, but it's worth repeating: A phone with only 16 gigabytes of storage is simply not enough storage for most people.
Between apps, photos, videos, and games, not to mention the operating system required just to use the device, many people will find that 16 gigabytes fills up quickly.
The iPhone SE also has Live Photos, a feature that records short videos when you take a photo. They're great, but they take up twice the room of a typical 12-megapixel photo. The newest phone also shoots crisp, high definition 4K video. 4K video is amazing, but it uses 375 megabytes per minute. That means that 10 minutes of video would use nearly 4 gigabytes of storage!
Those who already know the pain of owning a phone with not enough storage are familiar with this notification:
I should note that 16 gigabytes could work for some people.
- If you don't take a lot of photos or videos, don't care about downloading movies to watch on flights, and don't use a lot of apps, then 16 gigabytes could work for you.
- If you're very savvy and organized and you frequently offload everything from your phone to the cloud, it could work.
It's not impossible to use a phone with limited storage — it's just not a great experience.
It's great for Apple, though, because it's good for the company's bottom line. A phone with only 16 gigs of storage is a great way to upsell people to the larger capacity phone. The extra bit of storage is inexpensive for Apple to buy, so the company makes more profit off the phone with more storage.
Simply put: the $100 you pay for more storage is far more than Apple paid.
Apple has continued to offer 16 gigabytes in the base model of every iPhone since the iPhone 5 was introduced in 2012. But even Apple's competitors like Samsung, LG, and HTC no longer offer their flagship phones with a 16 gigabytes of storage — they all start with 32 gigabytes.
Apple's marketing boss Phil Schiller has defended the the company's choice of sticking with 16 gigabytes, saying that people can rely on the cloud for much of their storage needs, and phones with this level of storage are a good option for many people. But as my colleague Ben Gilbert explained last year, that's not actually a very good argument.
We'll have to wait and see if Apple finally ditches the 16 gigabyte base model of its phone when it announces the next batch of iPhones this fall.
