Apple's next-generation of iPhone models will reportedly start at 32GB of storage, instead of the teensy 16GB offered on the iPhone 6, according to 9to5Mac, citing a report from The Korea Times.
According to the report, Apple is currently negotiating with Samsung over the storage components for the next iPhone.
We already knew that Apple wanted Samsung to produce chips for the next iPhone, but what's new in this report is an emphasis on increasing the storage on iPhones.
The cheapest version of the iPhone 6 currently starts at 16GB of storage. However, users have complained that this is not enough storage space. The next available options are 64GB and 128 GB.
A move to increase storage on the next iPhone could see Apple cut the 16GB model altogether, 9to5Mac points out. The cheapest, entry-level iPhone would then come with 32GB of storage. That would convince people to buy more expensive iPhones, and solve the phone storage issue that lots of people are having.
A survey carried out by photo app Ice Cream in 2014 found that many 16GB iPhone users are regularly running out of space on their phones:
Apple is aware of the problem, and Phil Schiller, the company's head of marketing, was asked about the issue during an on-stage interview. Here's his explanation for why Apple continues to produce iPhones with low levels of storage, even though it's not enough for many users:
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 if The Korea Times story is correct, then it indicates that Apple is perhaps more concerned by the storage space issue than Schiller let on, and is working on a hardware fix, as well as hoping that online storage will catch up.
