The end is near for flagships with a meagre 128GB storage

Android flagships have long moved to higher storage options, with many offering as much as 1TB of storage. While external storage through microSD card expansion would have been a nice option, going with higher (and significantly faster) internal storage isn’t a bad idea either. However, occasionally, we’d see phones shamelessly come out with 128GB storage, which is unfortunately too little for most needs these days. We might finally be moving on from 128GB storage on flagships, though, as Apple also seems to be moving ahead with a 256GB base option for the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro.

Leaker Instant Digital shared on Weibo that the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro will start at 256GB, finally ditching the 128GB option for Apple’s top-tier flagship lineup.

The leaker quoted another leaker who mentioned that the iPhone 17 Pro will also be $50 more expensive than its predecessor, which isn’t unexpected if there is a storage bump to accompany it.

Currently, this is how Apple’s iPhone 16 lineup is spread in the US:

The iPhone 16 Pro starts at $999 but has a paltry 128GB storage. The 256GB storage variant costs $1,099. Alternatively, you can spend another $100 to get the 256GB 16 Pro Max, as the Pro Max doesn’t come with 128GB storage.

Apple has been said to explore raising prices for the upcoming iPhone 17 series, primarily to absorb the impact of rising costs and tariffs. A $50 price increase sounds about right, but keep in mind that if the company is switching to a higher storage, the starting price of the iPhone 17 Pro (256GB) could very well be $1,149.

The silver lining here is that with Apple moving on from 128GB storage, Android flagships will also quickly abandon it. As mentioned, many of the top lineups have already ditched the lower storage option, but we have some holdouts, such as the Galaxy S25, which still starts with 128GB storage. Even the upcoming Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro are expected to start at 128GB of storage, which many feel does not justify the leaked price. At least we can now look forward to the Galaxy S26 and the Pixel 11 Pro to start with 256GB storage.

Apple doesn’t seem to be completely abandoning 128GB storage, though. The base iPhone 17 and possibly the iPhone 17 Air could still ship with 128GB storage, which remains unacceptable for their presumed price point. The ripple effect of this would be that we’d still continue to see 128GB storage on Android mid-rangers and budget options, which is understandable for that price point. I am glad that the upper end of the market is at least moving on from 128GB. Next should be a move to 2TB storage and even more RAM to give us enthusiasts more headroom for future proofing.