Ding dong! The witch is dead! And by “witch,” I mean the 16GB iPhone, with its tiny amount of storage capacity. Apple announced today that its new iPhone 7 will not be available in a 16GB model. Instead, the phones will start at 32GB, offering twice as much space.
It’s okay to admit if somewhere in your sordid past you were lured in by the lower price point of a 16GB iPhone. We’ve all been there and some of us have the added shame of having owned a 16GB iPhone that was also made of hot pink plastic. (RIP my 16GB iPhone 5c. You were … not great.) But let’s face it, 16GB is just not enough space in 2016. Sure, the 16 GB iPhone 3G might have made sense, but that was a different time. IOS wasn’t as hefty, selfies weren’t a thing, and you couldn’t even technically record video on an Apple device until the iPhone 3GS.
With that, extra storage is worth the price these days, especially given that running and updating iOS on your phone can take up to a third of your gigs right off the bat. And that’s before you start downloading apps, taking pictures and videos, and sending texts. Want to add some higher-res images to the mix? Don’t bother. Your dinky phone is probably already out of space.
But now, the choice is no longer yours and your tech life will be all the better for it. The iPhone 7 comes in 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB models, and if you want to buy the jet-black color, your only options are the latter two sizes. (The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus start at $649 and $769, respectively.) Thank you, Apple, for taking this awful — yet cheap and tempting! — option away. (Though if you must, the iPhone SE still comes in a 16GB model.)
