Flickr/Karlis DambransWhen Apple introduced the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, I leapt at the chance to trade in my barely-used 5S and upgrade. I wish I hadn't.
My carrier, T-Mobile, makes this easy. I'm allowed a phone upgrade once every 6 months thanks to its Jump plan (which I pay for), and so I figured, if I'm paying for the option to upgrade, I might as well. I traded in my 5S, bought the 16GB iPhone 6, and was pretty happy.
But not for long.
Here's why: I cannot fit anything on this phone! Every single day I'm met with storage-almost-full warnings. I try to take photos and I can't - I have too many (and I really don't have that many.) So I have to frantically delete. I use Rdio for music, but can't download unlimited music (though I pay for the ability), because I don't have enough space for tunes. I don't even have that many apps, but the ones I do use are heavy: Rdio (5.4 GB), Photos (1.8 GB), Messages (380 MB), Voice Memos (337 MB), VSCO (200 MB) are the top culprits. I don't even have the Facebook app on my phone, because having it grace my home screen means having to forfeit other apps.
What is the point of having this phone if I can barely take advantage of this phone? This was a terrible idea. I should have just ponied up for 64 GB when I had the chance.
I'm not alone. Just this morning, we wrote that 91% of iPhone users are getting by with a minimal amount of storage. And they're barely getting by. (I'd know.)
I don't want to be a part of the 91% anymore. I'm putting my iPhone 6 up on eBay where it will sell for around $600. I'm going to go back to the iPhone 5S and buy the 32 GB version for around $400. I'll put the $200 difference towards my T-Mobile bill, where I'm paying for the 6 in monthly installments.
My editor Jay Yarow thinks this is a dumb idea. He thinks I should just get the 64 GB iPhone 6 Plus. He's sort of a bully about these things. I'm too exasperated to think about it any longer than I have already thought about it.
From Apple's perspective, my problem is good. People are going to have to shell out an extra $100 to get to the mid storage tier. That extra money will flow to Apple's bottom line, making an already phenomenally profitable company even more phenomenally profitable.