Apple Storage

[Breese6782]

Apple is all about making high-end products but why don’t they make their iPads or iPhones able to have expandable storage? I get how you can purchase a higher storage option off their website, but what if they had just one storage option and allowed you to install a Micro SD card to expand the storage at a much cheaper price? A lot of phones that run Stock Android use this method so why can’t iPhones or iPads?

[NeuesTestament]

Easy answer: It would cut severly into their profit margins. So it is not going to happen.

[Amazonsucks]

Because Apple isnt about making high end products. Theyre about huge profit margins on mediocre products that rely on their brand's image and marketing hype.

[Canada EH]

1 minute ago, Amazonsucks said:

Because Apple isnt about making high end products. Theyre about huge profit margins on mediocre products that rely on their brand's image and marketing hype.

 

Yup

 

Its called branding my friend!

 

 

[Amazonsucks]

8 minutes ago, Canada EH said:

 

Yup

 

Its called branding my friend!

 

 

And if people fall for it theyre called gullible

[Canada EH]

2 minutes ago, Amazonsucks said:

And if people fall for it theyre called gullible

 

Everyone falls for it.

 

Yes even you my friend.

 

[Amazonsucks]

Just now, Canada EH said:

 

Everyone falls for it.

 

Yes even you my friend.

 

I tend to avoid advertising of any kind and i research what i buy beforehand. Not everyone falls for marketing. The idea that literally every human being falls for marketing is unlikely to the point of near impossibility. Falling for marketing hype isnt necessary like breathing oxygen for humans.

[Arika]

Because Apple doesn't make money on it, they get nothing if someone buys an sd card. Whereas every apple accessory, if it's a lightning accessory, they will get a royalty on even if it's not manufactured or sold by them. 

 

Which is why it was surprising to everyone that they swapped the lightning port for usb-c on the new ipad pro

[DrMacintosh]

They could add expandable storage, but they don’t want to. 

 

They would rather the NVMe storage stay local, encrypted, and fast. Also as far as the user experience is concerned, not having to manage external cards and just having a large single drive is better. 

 

It would also cut into their margins. Some might call it greed, but that’s Capitalism for you. 

[Guest]

Apple does not need expandable storage because of iCloud storage and already having 256GB in a phone already, if you need more than that you should re-evaluate how you use a phone, or don't buy an iPhone. Its really hard to even try and use 256GB. 

[Sauron]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

They would rather the NVMe storage stay local, encrypted, and fast. Also as far as the user experience is concerned, not having to manage external cards and just having a large single drive is better.

It wouldn't make a difference if they gave their customers the option. Those who feel managing two storage devices is too hard could just avoid using expansion cards, those who don't feel the need to spend another 150$ to store their music and cat pictures (which hardly benefit from the faster storage anyway) could buy an sd card.

 

If we really wanted to find a technical reason it would be the design choice of not allowing any storage to be accessible outside of an application sandbox. Still, that's Apple's problem, not ours.

18 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

It would also cut into their margins. Some might call it greed, but that’s Capitalism for you. 

Indeed it is, and that's why as customers we can choose to go with a competitor.

2 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

Apple does not need expandable storage because of iCloud storage and already having 256GB in a phone already, if you need more than that you should re-evaluate how you use a phone, or don't buy an iPhone. Its really hard to even try and use 256GB. 

You can buy a 128GB sd card for less than $30 and you can reuse it when you change your phone. You may not want to spend 5 times as much if you can avoid it.

 

Granted, it's a lot better now than it used to be - just a couple of years ago, doubling your storage on an iphone would cost you $110 no matter how much storage was actually being added. But then again, the phones themselves are a lot more expensive to begin with.

[Guest]

Just now, Sauron said:

 

You can buy a 128GB sd card for less than $30 and you can reuse it when you change your phone. You may not want to spend 5 times as much if you can avoid it.

 

Granted, it's a lot better now than it used to be - just a couple of years ago, doubling your storage on an iphone would cost you $110 no matter how much storage was actually being added. But then again, the phones themselves are a lot more expensive to begin with.

Not gonna lie it would be nice, but it feels pretty indifferent going to an iPhone and a lot less fiddly without an SD card. Remember the target audience for Apple users. The way I see it, I could have paid around 1200 for a 64GB iPhone 7, but if the 128GB was only 100 more, and the 256 only 100 more from there, I might as well get the 256 because I can't change it, and its not that much from the price of the phone. 

[Sauron]

2 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

I might as well get the 256 because I can't change it, and its not that much from the price of the phone. 

EXACTLY. That's the kind of thinking Apple wants from you. Imagine if that storage COULD be expanded - would you feel compelled to drop another 200$ "just in case"?

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Sauron said:

EXACTLY. That's the kind of thinking Apple wants from you. Imagine if that storage COULD be expanded - would you feel compelled to drop another 200$ "just in case"?

I probably would. $200 isn't much from 1200. I'll probably get that back in tax anyway. The primary Apple audience is not so tech savvy people (IDK what class of SD card to get or whether there are good ones or bad ones etc) and who don't care that much about money. Reliable and well-designed products are mainly what I like to get and feel like a better investment, the more money the more I think it will help me in the future, hence the extra storage. I know I'm a bit naive but there you go. 

[Billy Pilgrim]

2 hours ago, Amazonsucks said:

I tend to avoid advertising of any kind and i research what i buy beforehand. Not everyone falls for marketing. The idea that literally every human being falls for marketing is unlikely to the point of near impossibility. Falling for marketing hype isnt necessary like breathing oxygen for humans.

Thats true, but advertising is designed to subtly influence people's opinions, and while it can never effect everyone it effects more people than admit. Look up Edward Bernays. He founded modern advertising.

[Canada EH]

5 hours ago, Amazonsucks said:

marketing

Well you know marketing is a whole umbrella right, let me explain in a brief manner, if I may. And yes, it all ties into the question of Apple.

 

Grocery stores stock brands at eye level for the customer those brands want to get. Those brands pay a premium for A+ shelf space. Then there are colors that excite the eye, yellows and reds usually. Its all sub conscience really, people do it without even realizing it. The way prices are marked at $9.99 instead of $10.00, that is marketing. Humans are on autopilot, we do things that soceity has influenced us to do in some respects, but its also how they were brought up, the items they used back then, circumstances. There is also a convenience factor because no person would research "The Best" for every thing. Its whatever is on the shelf.

 

Like I said, it all ties in.

 

I am good arent I LOL

I just winged it LOL

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, Breese6782 said:

Apple is all about making high-end products but why don’t they make their iPads or iPhones able to have expandable storage? I get how you can purchase a higher storage option off their website, but what if they had just one storage option and allowed you to install a Micro SD card to expand the storage at a much cheaper price? A lot of phones that run Stock Android use this method so why can’t iPhones or iPads?

Last I checked "Stock Android" has no SD card support. Thats a feature the manufacture of the device implements themselves. Secondly cheap shitty SD cards would slow the device down, which is part of the reason some devices dont have an SD card slot. Thirdly Apple likes money, they rather you buy the more expensive device with the larger amount of storage. 

[Umberto]

Just get iCloud, $3/month for 200gb and you get the benefit of having everything safely backed up in the cloud. Depending on the lifetime of the sd-card and accounting for that cloud storage gets cheaper with time, it's only marginally cheaper with a card if at all. 

 

Comparing 128 gb of sd-card storage with internal storage is silly for obvious reasons. 

[BuckGup]

There are a few reasons. I believe when asked they said it was due to the security, user experience, and brand image. If someone puts a slow SD card in and it makes everything sluggish and eventually dies they will be mad at Apple. Especially when most buying iPhones don't have a clue about technology