There are actually people who put movies on there phones? I thought that was just an urban myth or that people did that for children on road trips. Although I would love to see apple bump up the storage capacity I don't believe they will anytime soon. (...) If you need more than 5000 songs and 10,000 pictures and videos then you need to re evaluate what your phone is for because 1. you cannot possibly listen to all that music and chances are you just listen to maybe a few over and over again 2. Same thing with pictures you don't scroll through them regularly so just put them on you computer finally 3. It's a phone not a computer. ( at least not yet )
I kindly disagree. We DO use them as pocket computers - or portable media devices, or camera, whatever you want, but the "phone" part comes second at best in most cases. We can't judge on how anybody uses such a capable device as a good smartphone, and that use may very well go along with heavy storage of music and pics/movies and games, because that's what they can be used for just as much as anything else. You put a media player on there, you have to expect there's going to be more and more media storage. You offer a Retina screen and HD content compatibility, you have to expect people are going to pack more and more heavy, HD content. When 5% of users complain about lacking storage, you may still pass it under silence, but when one user out of three demands it, you have to realize this is where you're heading, this is precisely the market you created. Still, with a 64GB device available out there and iCloud service as well, and with 16GB becoming the standard, I think that need has been fulfilled for now - but maybe not for long. I think most people out there are more willing to pay for a built-in storage increase than for the possibility of using a storage service. They don't want to have to manage content, what to sync and what to push to the Cloud. They just want to sync everything they have without compromise, without even thinking about it. And what consumers want is where you gotta go. Samsung nailed this down in the last couple of years... Apple may not offer as much, but they do offer enough, and play the market on another level entirely. Apple is evolving in a very logical and harmonious way, they don't like to pack features they think might not be as useful as others may be. Right now my guess is that logic says 64GB is quite sufficient storage for heavy use, just as much as that harmonious balance says that offering anything over 16GB for their entry level smartphone is exagerated.
I can't see apple increasing storage without their customary huge price increase. Maybe since some manufacturers increased storage with only a $50 increase(sgs) apple would do the same. Doubt it though because then they wouldn't make the huge amount they do per phone. Plus with how well the 16 and 32gb models are selling I cannot see them moving away from them at least not yet. They are always the first ones to sell out and most people are fine with 16/32gb for a phone.
I don't think we can logically compare iPhone and GSIII in that aspect, because the GSIII offers expandable storage. As you can get a 64GB micro SD for less than 100$, Samsung could not really ask a 100$ more for only a 16GB increase and expect to sell many 32GB units. At only 50$ more, on the other hand, Samsung knows many people will just save the trouble of buying and using a SD card, considering the 32GB itself is enough offering for the average user wanting some extra room. 50$ becomes the magical number for Samsung in this case, it keeps the extra profit for themselves as much as possible, but it also twarts that other popular smartphone
both in price and offer, for the satisfaction of a growing number of heavy users. What I mean in the end is that Samsung devalues the storage increase price of its GSIII by offering for both versions a 64GB SD card compatibility that would cost about 100$ to get. Apple, on the other hand, can afford to bank solely on it to justify a marginal price increase, as the user doesn't have any other alternative. Yet when they increased the basic 8GB to 16GB and doubled the rest accordingly, they kept the same prices, so in the end I don't have any problem with their method.
Although I think another bump in memory size is to come for the iPhone, I don't think we'll see it this fall. I think that for this release they'll have focused on battery life vs. LTE and perhaps bigger screen, and on polishing their iOS to ensure the transition takes on seamlessly with all the new integrations and features. On the other hand, when it does come, I'm not so sure as to what will happen. Like many stated here I'm not sure they'll drop the 16GB soon. 128GB seems exagerated, that's something I'd keep for the iPad. I thought at one point that Apple may drop the "x 2 rule" to adopt eventually a "+ 32 rule" : 32 - 64 - 96. I think a +32GB rule would also allow for a more gradual and logical increase, should it become necessary to go beyond 96GB. I gathered some numbers to show what 85GB of usable storage could mean : 15-20 hours of downloaded HD content + 7500 songs + 3000 HD pics at 8mp + 10-15GB left for apps and games and stuff... This is some heavy use... yet it is not impossible that such storage could already be required, in any variation, by a fair 5-10% of users right now.