Will We See a 2 TB iPhone 16 Pro This Year?
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While there are plenty of reliable rumors about what we can expect from this year’s iPhone 16 lineup, one question remains unanswered: What will be the storage capacities of this year’s iPhone models?
Storage capacities are one of the few things that Apple manages to repeatedly surprise us with each year—or, perhaps, “disappoint us” is a better way to put it since the company often fails to make the dramatic changes that many hope for.
For instance, we’ve been hearing predictions of a mythic 2 TB iPhone since 2021, when several industry sources predicted the iPhone 14 Pro lineup would gain that higher storage capacity. Yet, even the most expensive iPhone 15 Pro Max still tops out at 1 TB.
Still, it’s been a while since Apple has shaken up its iPhone storage lineup, which has remained relatively static since the iPhone 13 Pro added the 1 TB model three years ago. Last year’s iPhone 15 Pro Max raised the floor to 256 GB, seemingly to increase its starting price, but the smaller iPhone 15 Pro retained the same four storage capacities as its two predecessors: 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB.
That bump to four different tiers was a surprise when the iPhone 13 Pro debuted in 2021. Before that, Apple had never released more than three storage capacities for any given iPhone model (at least simultaneously). 2021 was also the year that Apple admitted that 64 GB was too little for a mainstream iPhone, eliminating it for the first time since it was introduced with the iPhone 8 in 2017 and replacing it with a larger 512 GB version at the higher end.
All iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 models continued that trend, with the only departure being the aforementioned iPhone 15 Pro Max, which lost the smaller 128 GB version. This technically meant a higher cost of entry for the larger model, although the price-per-gigabyte remained the same as its predecessor.
2023 also marked the first year two iPhone Pro models had different storage tiers. This has led to speculation that this year’s iPhone 16 Pro could drop the 128 GB model to line things up again, but there’s been little to corroborate that theory.
Still, if Apple did go that route, this could be the year it finally adds a 2 TB version at the top. The past three iPhone Pro generations have normalized the idea of four storage capacities, so if the 128 GB tier were to go away entirely, a 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB lineup would make a lot of sense.
It would also make the iPhone 16 Pro the highest-capacity smartphone on the market. As with the iPhone Pro, rumors have circulated for the past few years that Samsung would take its Galaxy Ultra lineup to 2 TB, but it has yet to do that.
Is a 2 TB iPhone 16 Pro Realistic?
The bigger question is whether Apple will do this. There’s plenty of evidence that it can if it wants to — it’s rumored to be adopting new Quad-Level Cell (QLC) NAND flash memory that allows for more storage in a smaller space at lower costs. However, we also heard reports in past years that this new memory technology would come to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro models, yet those still use older Triple-Level-Cell (TLC) NAND, likely due to its faster read and write speeds.
The most compelling reason for Apple to bump the storage capacity on its flagship iPhone models is the same one that likely inspired the move to a 1 TB iPhone 13 Pro: support for higher-quality video and photo formats. The iPhone 13 Pro added ProRes Video, which can eat up to 5 GB of storage for each minute of video if you’re recording in the maximum 4K resolution at 30 frames per second (fps) — a setting that’s only available on models with at least 256 GB of storage.
Last year’s iPhone 15 Pro bumped that 4K maximum to 60 fps, but only when recording to an external storage device connected to the new USB-C port. The iPhone 16 Pro is likely to continue that, but a 2 TB version could make it more practical to save such recordings to internal storage.
The iPhone 16 Pro is also expected to feature a 48-megapixel (MP) ultrawide camera, a new JPEG-XL image format that could result in larger image files, and possibly even the ability to shoot 3K video at 120 fps with Dolby Vision support.
Nevertheless, the switch to USB-C provides more options for those who need additional storage capacity for capturing photos and videos. As things stand now, TLC NAND is faster than QLC NAND, which means Apple may prefer much faster storage that tops out at 1 TB rather than being forced to slow things down by moving to higher capacities.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
