In the USA, customers who buy new iPhone models have fallen on the basic storage area. The Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) report compares the storage space preferences of iPhones purchased in 2023 and 2024.

Higher storage iPhones are less preferred

According to CIRP’s report, 44 %of those who bought the iPhone 16 Pro series in 2024 and 48 %of those who bought the iPhone 15 Pro series in 2023 preferred models with higher capacity. In the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, a more significant decrease took place. In the previous year, 48 %of the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus buyers prefer models with higher storage, while the iPhone 16 and16 Plus decreased to 42 %.

Apparently capacities such as 128 GB and 256 GB offered at the basic level are considered sufficient for many users. In particular, the orientation for cloud storage seems to have reduced the need for higher storage capacity.

However, the situation is reversed on older iPhone models. In 2024, 48 %of users who bought previous models such as iPhone SE (2022), iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 chose to go above the basic storage area. The previous year was 38 %. This difference may be due to the fact that users do not want to have the same problem when buying new phones due to insufficient capacity of their old phones.