This is the one thing I want from the iPhone 13

This is the ane affair I want from the iPhone xiii

(Paradigm credit: Svetapple)

Apple'south iPhone sets the standard amongst smartphones in many ways. Not only does Apple brand the best camera phone you lot can currently purchase, the list of best phones overall is brindled with dissimilar iPhone models. When information technology comes to design, software, and just the overall smartphone experience, the iPhone puts many would-be rivals to its smartphone crown to shame.

Unless you await at the storage Apple includes in its entry-level iPhone models. In that case, the competition has got the iPhone's number.

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I'm not talking about the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, which deliver a healthy 128GB of onboard storage in their base of operations configurations. Of course, that'south a big change from the iPhone 11 Pro, which started out with 64GB in storage. What, is the "Pro" short for, "prohibitively cramped"?

The iPhone 12 Pro models may accept increased their base storage from previous versions of Apple tree's phone, but that edict didn't reach the iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 mini. Those phones still start out with a pedestrian 64GB of on-board storage. And given Apple'south "no microSD slot, ever" policy, iPhone shoppers fave a dilemma when buying the cheaper versions of Apple's flagship — make exercise with the 64GB of storage in the base model or pay an actress $l to crash-land the storage to an adequate 128GB.

A new iPhone brings the opportunity to correct old mistakes, and Apple's expected to introduce new iPhone 13 models this fall in the aforementioned 4 variations as the iPhone 12 lineup. While big changes are doubtlessly in the works, touching everything from display refresh speed to camera features, I promise Apple remembers to boost the amount of storage it includes on the iPhone 13 and iPhone xiii mini.

How iPhone storage compares to similar smartphones

Eyeball the storage of other phones that cost well-nigh the same as the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini, and it doesn't take a lot of analysis to meet where Apple tree's coming up short.

Phone	Base model storage	microSD?	Price
Apple iPhone 12 mini	64GB	No	$699
Apple iPhone 12	64GB	No	$799
Samsung Milky way S21	128GB	No	$799
Samsung Galaxy S20 Atomic number 26	128GB	Yes	$699
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G	128GB	Yep	$499
OnePlus 9	128GB	No	$729
Google Pixel six	128GB	No	$699
Nokia eight.3 5G	128GB	Yes	$699
Motorola Edge	256GB	Yep	$699

These days, 128GB of storage is the tabular array stakes for a flagship phone, something Apple tree seems to recognize with its Pro models at to the lowest degree. Some of the phones on this listing take expandable storage, some don't, merely all of them save for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini, start with at least 128GB; the Motorola Edge fifty-fifty doubles things up to 256GB.

To find 64GB every bit the starting betoken for a phone, you usually have to scour through midrange and even budget models. Here, besides, the Galaxy A52 5G tops the latest iPhones, with double the storage in the base model for $200 less than the iPhone 12 mini.

Why doesn't Apple offer more iPhone storage?

Storage is non the most expensive component of a phone, but it isn't cheap, and Apple tree uses storage as a way to create pricing tiers and keep margins high.

— Avi Greengart, Techsponential

And then what'south stopping Apple tree from following the pb of other phone makers and giving its ii least expensive flagships a decent amount of storage? I possible explanation is the cost of adding more chapters, merely Avi Greengart, lead analyst fro Techsponential, told me that'due south probably non the case.

"Storage is non the most expensive component of a phone, but it isn't inexpensive, and Apple tree uses storage every bit a way to create pricing tiers and keep margins high," Greengart said. "In that location are definitely supply constraints on retention right at present, and prices take gone upward, though you can say that almost virtually any component these days."

iphone 13 mini renders — I don't care if the iPhone 13 mini looks like this render, just I hope it has 128GB of storage. (Image credit: SvetApple)

If storage is ane of the ways Apple tree is differentiating between its standard phones and its Pro models, the iPhone xiii would seem to render that stardom moot, based on the other rumored changes apparently headed to those handsets. It'south the iPhone xiii Pro models that are expected to get the dynamically refreshing 120Hz displays, not the iPhone xiii and iPhone 13 mini. Likewise, the well-nigh interesting iPhone 13 camera additions are slated for the Pro models. Why not requite the iPhone 13 and 13 mini a little extra storage love?

It may seem like a pocket-sized point, but storage is an increasingly value article on phones in an age where device makers are encouraging u.s.a. to snap a lot of photos. And given Apple'south emphasis on photo features, you'd think the company would desire to make sure there'due south enough room on its iPhone to store all those images.

"Consumers who shoot a lot of pictures or store lots of video definitely effort to purchase phones with higher baseline storage chapters," Greengart said. "The alternative is to motility content more quickly to the cloud — but that costs money, too, but every month instead of when you purchase the phone."

Apple has fiddling firsthand motivation for bumping up the storage on the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini. After all, nobody's actually making ownership conclusion based on the corporeality of storage a phone has. If anything, customers are simply shrugging and paying the extra toll to get more storage or purchasing an iCloud subscription— a situation I'grand sure Apple isn't entirely unhappy nigh.

But skimpy storage is all the same a flaw, and an hands correctable one at that. It'due south something Apple should address with the iPhone 13.

Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom's Guide. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics and old movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.