What's with iPad storage sizes?

iOS
#1

G’day,

32GB or 128GB? For Apple’s current model 2018 iPad, those are the 2 storage options.

Even my 72yo mother struggles to live within 32GB on her iPhone, which is saying something.

In the olden days, an 8GB iPhone barely had enough storage to take a walk down the street. These days, 12 years later, 32GB is not a lot of space to fit your apps, your games, your photos, etc etc, with some games/apps easily using 1GB a piece, and yet 32GB is what Apple offers for its iPad - Or - for an extra $130 (28% of the iPad’s price) you can upgrade to 128GB, which is plenty of storage. Not quite enough, to plenty. It’s nearly as bad as Telstra’s broadband choices.

(I’m about to fork out for a refurb iPad, cos my 11yo cracked his iPad Air 2’s screen, and an Apple authorised repair will cost $479… or a refurb 2018 model with 128GB - $509… which is $90 less than new from Apple. Oh… or $538 for a new one from JB etc)

Cheers

cosmic

#2

It depends on the usage. I use iCloud extensively, and despite having over 15,000 photos, only have a 64gb iPhone that only has about 40gb used. If you store everything on the device locally, then you’ll need the highest capacity. But I love iCloud, so I’m able to have a lower capacity (and therefore cheaper!) phone.

1 Like
#3

Cause schools and businesses will buy the 32GB, but average users will look at the sizes and automatically go for the 128GB thus paying more money.

#4

Yes it is annoying. Apple started taking out medium capacity devices in 2014 with the iPad mini 3 and the iPhone 6 when the choices were 16, 64 and 128 GB. A year later however, the 32 GB model returned in the iPad mini 4, iPhone 6S and iPhone SE. This was rather surprising because ever since, every iPad and iPhone model has had a missing capacity.

#5

@AVC - I kinda thought the cloud could be a factor in the sizing.

When the cloud was introduced, I gave it no attention because my mobile data plan simply had no capacity for such a service. I’m sure plenty of people are in the position that frequently accessing the cloud is not an ideal scenario. So whilst the actual iCloud paid service appears to not be that expensive, it’s the customer’s data plan that can add up against it. (Of course - in America, as I understand it, this wouldn’t be an issue because prices are much much cheaper than here.)

That said… now being a dual income family, we do have mobile data capacity for iCloud…

@Oldmacs - Mmm. Even in schools, whilst they’d certainly go for the cheapest model, 32GB isn’t a lot. My son’s iPad is mostly filled with school required apps / course work etc, with only a few “outside school” games, and he frequently has to delete things and rely on the App Store cloud to then retrieve software.

@kerr - Glad I’m not the only one noticing this. :slight_smile:

Just googling the price difference between a 32GB SSD and 64GB SSD… and in the volume that Apple would be buying them… it would be so negligible to just put 64GB in them.

1 Like
#6

32GB is usually enough though for shared devices owned by the school. I managed about 300 (shared) 16GB iPads in schools, and apart from deleting photos/videos periodically it was fine. One to one programs where kids have their own iPads is different

The difference would probably be $5 or so per iPad. But Apple makes a LOT more money by having a cheap model that some will buy and a high end model that people are pushed into buying.

If they offered a 64 (offered at the current 32GB) and 128GB, they’d loose a lot of profit margin, because sales for the 128 would plummet and they’d be loosing that $5 or so per device that they save because business etc don’t need it.

I don’t agree with it at all, but I know this is why Apple does it.

#7

In JB yesterday… the iPad mini has 64gb minimums?

Went with the brand new option, $539 at JB, and they gave me the Griffin Survivor Extreme for the price of the non-Extreme - $40 off.

And the boy is under threat of death (not really) to make sure the iPad travels in the neoprene pencil case we bought for that specific purpose in future.

(Side note, to his credit he fronted me the day it broke and told me what had happened. Poor thing was pretty stressed. Wasn’t thrilled but know a number of his classmates have done worse a lot quicker than him…)

#8

There’s no way I’d ever not get AppleCare+ on an iPad for a kid these days. It’s only ~$150 and it allows for accidental damage coverage twice for a nominal fee compared to a new one.

#9

From Apples webpage:
AppleCare+ for iPhone provides up to two years of expert technical support and additional hardware coverage from Apple, including up to two incidents of accidental damage, each subject to a service fee of A$45 for screen damage, or A$149 for any other damage.

I have my own insurance that covers these events (portable devices) which has a $100 excess. Even if I smashed the screen twice, I’m still in front making AppleCare+ not really worth it.

On storage sizes, Apple have clearly designed things to push up the average selling price very very nicely. It’s like they sit in a room and say “whats the lowest storage we can get away with” then make the next model the one you really should buy.

iPad (2018) 32GB - $469
iPad (2018) 128GB - $599
iPad Air 3 64GB - $779
iPad Air 3 256GB - $999

I also love that they have used the iPad Air name to raise that average selling price once again, just like when it was first introduced. The iPad Air is really just the next gen iPad but at a higher price allowing them to keep the old model at the lower entry price while really just pushing the price up again for the refreshed model.

I suppose you don’t become a trillion dollar company by accident.

2 Likes
#10

Yeah they’re quite good at that one…

They introduced the iPad Air to push up the price in 2013/2014, then the iPad Pro to push the price up again, sales dropped so they brought out the ‘9.7 inch iPad’, that sold too well due to their low price but good features over the pros, so they stopped updating it and instead brought in the iPad Air again ahaha

#11

What sort of policy is this? Just curious! :slight_smile: Does the insurance persist after a claim (i.e. can you claim 2 times? Does that have an impact on your rating, etc.?)

#12

I have to admit… I have no idea if my current policy could have covered repairing the iPad… Should check it out.

When I lived in QLD I was with Suncorp, and their insurance offered $x for “electronics away from home” - ie when you drop your camera / laptop etc when not at home.

I’m with RACV now… and have to admit I’ve not even looked into what cover I have for electronics… (hanging head in shame, having previously worked in insurance)

#13

It’s an extra for “unspecified portable items” or something like that. I can choose the levels but have up to $3,000 per claim and up to $1,000 per item. While a total loss of an iPhone XS would be well over that, even an out of warranty replacement through Apple is covered as it’s under $1,000. Alternatively, I could list specific items at their actual replacement cost, but this is more expensive and is designed for high-end things like cameras and laptops.

I have used it a few times over the years with no (noticeable) impact on the premium and no change in my rating. Last year we had a bad run of three devices getting smashed screens over a three week period. No questions asked, all covered and the policy renewed again this year without issue. And yes, insurance persists as it’s just a generic add on to the main house and contents policy covering anything and everything I might be carrying up to the limit.

If I were to lose.have stolen a camera bag the limit is per item up to the maximum cap which means a potential claim could be many items, each under $1k to the maximum value like this:

  • Digital SLR $750
  • Lens 1 $400
  • Lens 2 $450
  • Lens 3 $500
  • Spare Battery 1 $50
  • Spare Battery 2 $50
  • Memory Card 1 $50
  • Memory Card 2 $50
  • Tripod $75
  • etc $550
  • etc $50
  • etc $100
  • Total $3,000

Works pretty well and saves having to get insurance through your carrier per phone too (which has gotten surprisingly expensive)