Apple has quietly bolstered its iCloud storage tiers, hinting at a possible boost to iPhone storage too. Is the oft-rumoured 256GB iPhone 7 or iPhone 6SE Pro about to become a reality at next week’s launch?
A new 2TB iCloud storage plan has been launched, setting UK customers back £13.99 a month, and US customers $19.99 a month. It’s the largest plan available, superseding the previous top-tariff 1TB plan. All previous plans still exist, which means there are now four separate tiers available.
Some have speculated that this could be an accidental admission by Apple that the iPhone 7 is also going to get a storage boost. The largest iCloud storage tier has, historically, always been eight times as big as the largest iPhone storage capacity. Now that the iCloud storage cap has doubled from 1TB to 2TB, it’s not a leap to imagine peak iPhone storage shifting from 128GB up to 256GB.
It wouldn’t come as a huge surprise; there have been plenty of recent rumours that suggest Apple really is plotting a significant bump in storage for the iPhone 7. In fact, it’s also rumoured that the minimum iPhone storage will finally rise from 16GB to 32GB, bringing it in line with rival Samsung Galaxy phones.
Speaking to TrustedReviews earlier this year, TrendForce analyst Avril Wu said: “We believe 256GB storage being adopted in the next generation of iPhone is really likely to happen. However, even if 256GB is the case, it will only be used in the 5.5-inch model’s ‘premium’ version.”
This sentiment was mirrored by James Moar, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research, who told us: “If a 256GB iPhone is to be released, it will be as part of a wider…offering (potentially an iPhone 7 Plus), that can be used in the workplace in the same way as the iPad Pro is intended to be.”
Here are the new pricing tiers for iCloud storage in the UK:
- 50GB – £0.79
- 200GB – £2.49
- 1TB – £6.99
- 2TB – £13.99
Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 7 at its dedicated launch event on September 7 in San Fransisco. TrustedReviews will be reporting on all the action live as it happens, so stay tuned.
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Image credit: Martin Hajek
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.