Apple doubles the maximum allowed size of iOS apps, 16GB of storage suddenly much less appealing

Shawn Knight

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Apple has increased the maximum size of apps in the App Store. Developers can now upload binaries (app packages) as large as 4GB through iTunes Connect, up from the 2GB limit that has been in place since the App Store debuted in 2008.

In a brief notice regarding the change, Apple said this will allow developers to include more media in their submissions and provide a more complete, rich user experience upon installation.

It’s worth pointing out that this change doesn’t impact the size threshold that an app must stay under in order to be downloadable via cellular network which remains at 100MB. After all, nobody wants to burn up an entire month of data or more just to download a single app.

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For consumers, this simply means that those smaller capacity devices with 8GB and 16GB of storage are suddenly much less appealing.

I’m about as far from the stereotypical mobile user / geek as one can get while still loving technology. I don’t play mobile games (or really, any games at all these days), I no longer bother with social networking and I have zero interest in Star Wars / Lord of the Rings / Star Trek or any other fictional sci-fi classics.

Yet I noticed with my last phone that 16GB of storage was no longer sufficient. Between the various apps I do use (productivity, entertainment, IoT stuff), I often ran out of space and was forced to delete content if I wanted to snap a quick photo or video.

Even with the advent of cloud storage, we’re quickly approaching the point of where 32GB will be the new entry-level configuration.

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Yet I noticed with my last phone that 16GB of storage was no longer sufficient.
I think I read this line in a 2012 phone review.

Even with the advent of cloud storage, we’re quickly approaching the point of where 32GB will be the new entry-level configuration.
Not for Apple it won't. Why put an extra 16GB in the phone when they can charge you extra for cloud storage? It's not like flash storage hasn't been cheap as h3ll for the last few generations.
The only reason Apple would start making 32GB standard is if they need a 'new' feature for a future model for people to get excited about.
 
Not for Apple it won't. Why put an extra 16GB in the phone when they can charge you extra for cloud storage? It's not like flash storage hasn't been cheap as h3ll for the last few generations.
The only reason Apple would start making 32GB standard is if they need a 'new' feature for a future model for people to get excited about.
I have to agree with you there. It's easy to argue that they could have put in an extra 16 GB because it's so cheap to do at a manufacturing level. And Apple could have included a SD Micro card slot in all of their iPhone products if at any time they were concerned with storage. They have not. The reasons are rather simple: limitations triggers sales. It generates business for Apple each time a product reaches some End of Life measure. Run out of space? Just buy the next larger model, it's a simple way to think in terms of sales. There may be some ray of hope, it is said that Apple may EoL'ed the iPhone 5c very soon. (Which is only available in the 8 GB size. ) This might be in recognition to poor sales because people don't want a small storage space on the device, despite cloud access.
 
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