From humble beginnings: iPhone’s storage capacity growth through the years

Although Apple had already made a name for itself over the years, nothing would have been the same without the appearance of its flagship product, the iPhone. The terminal was received with great expectation at the MacWorld Conference & Expo in 2007, an event that does not exist today but that would change everything: the first iPhone in history had already made its star appearance.

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Since its launch, it could be said that everything has been on the rise: bigger battery, bigger screen, better camera, etc. Another of the aspects that has evolved the most within the Apple terminal has been its storage capacity. However, the change has been more gradual than some of us would have liked.

The original iPhone, the most restrained of them all

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The first iPhone is, at the moment, the one with the lowest storage version in the history of the terminal. Its base version would bring only 4 GB, something that today would seem unthinkable.

In retrospect, the truth is that it did not clash with its contemporaries and even surpassed them. Terminals such as the Blackberry Curve 8310, one of the brand’s bestsellers, came with only 64 MB of space at the time. To make up for these shortcomings, most cell phones included a microSD slot, something that the iPhone never did (and never will).

The original iPhone was followed by the iPhone 3G and then the iPhone 3GS. With the new generation we said goodbye to the 4 GB and now the most basic model started at 8 GB. If we opted for an iPhone 3GS in its most expensive version, the storage was already up to 32 GB.

The maximum amount then went up again with the iPhone 4S, which, while still retaining the 8 GB model, was now also available with 64 GB. As you can see, these jumps were very gradual and even back then, 8 GB seemed like anecdotal space. The iPhone 4S also debuted for the first time iCloud, Apple’s cloud-based service. This offered 5 GB of free storage, which, although not much, in the context of the time was a nice bonus.

It would take the iPhone 5 to leave behind the 8 GB and embrace the new base storage, the 16 GB. These fateful 16 GB have accompanied the iPhone until the release of the iPhone 7. At the time, the most critical fronts came to qualify as “shameful” that Apple continued to sell terminals with 16 GB in the middle of 2015. As a sufferer of the 16 GB, the truth is that it did not give you much: it forced you to install and uninstall applications continuously and to check like a maniac how much space you had left this time.

Already in 2016, the iPhone 7 improved and could be purchased with 32 GB, 128 GB or 256 GB. During the following years, Apple would not take too long this time to continue to increase the capacities of its terminals and now, the iPhone 8 could be purchased with a base space of 64 GB. The last leap was seen in the iPhone 13, where the space was increased to 128 GB.

Space on the iPhone is too limited

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Having limited space on the iPhone has always been a constant problem since the beginning. With each new generation, this setback has been getting worse and in the end, it would not only end up affecting users, but also the competition (and positively).

In 2017, Google took advantage of the situation to mock Apple and mimicked the dreaded “Storage almost full” notification to promote the Pixel 2. At the time, Google gave its users unlimited storage through its cloud service. Apple, on the other hand, only offered (and offers) 5GB free.

In this case, Apple is very clear: if you want more space, get your wallet ready. After all, iCloud subscriptions are part of Apple’s offering and every year that passes, it brings them more profit if possible.

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