The storage upgrade game - where Apple still somehow gets away with charging an arm and a leg for a minimal bump in storage. I mean, $200 for an extra 256GB on the iPhone 17 Pro? That's just nuts. You could buy a whole new mid-range phone for that price.
Let's give Apple some credit where it's due, though. The base iPhone 17 finally starts with a decent 256GB of storage. That's double what they used to offer, and it's actually a better deal than what Samsung and Google are giving you on their flagship phones. But, as soon as you want more, things get ugly. The cost of upgrading is insane, especially when you consider that it costs the manufacturer maybe $20-$30 to throw in some extra storage.
I think it's time to call out Apple's game here. They're playing us for fools, and it's worked for years. The base model always seems like enough... until it's not. You start taking some 4K videos, download a few big games, or just accumulate a bunch of photos, and suddenly that 256GB is looking pretty cramped. Then, boom! You need to shell out another $200 to upgrade, or deal with constantly managing your storage.
Meanwhile, Samsung, Google, and even Xiaomi are offering way better deals on their phones. You can get a 512GB upgrade for around $100-$120, which is still too much, but at least it's not daylight robbery. And don't even get me started on OnePlus, which throws in extra RAM with their upgrades. It's like they actually care about giving you value for your money.
So, what's Apple's strategy here? It's simple: they're making bank off people who don't know any better. They're counting on you to shell out top dollar for a phone, and then charge you again for the privilege of storing your stuff. It's not innovative, it's just greedy. Remember when Samsung used to do this same thing with their Galaxy phones? Yeah, it didn't exactly make them popular with customers.
Now, I'm not saying Apple is alone in this game. All phone manufacturers have their ways of upselling, but Apple takes the cake. And it's not just the price - it's the principle. If you're going to charge me $200 for a storage upgrade, at least give me some tangible benefits, like a better camera or a faster chip. But no, it's just... more storage. The kind of thing that should cost pennies to produce.
As a tech journalist, I've seen this game played out for years, and it's getting old. Phone manufacturers need to stop treating storage like a precious resource and start giving customers the value they deserve. If Xiaomi can do it, why can't everyone else? It's time for Apple to rethink its storage strategy and give customers a fair deal.
In the end, it's up to consumers to vote with their wallets. If you're in the market for a new iPhone, consider the storage cost carefully before you buy. You might just find that it's not worth the premium price. And who knows, maybe if enough people speak out against this rip-off, Apple will finally get the message.