It is common knowledge that as cameras get more pixels, audio quality improves and apps and software become more complex, the amount of data that these will all take up will naturally increase. Therefore, the logical step is for the storage capacities of smartphones to increase at similar rates. However, it has been the total opposite in recent years, where 8GB smartphones have only just started to die out around two years ago and there are still 16GB smartphones out there to buy as the cheapest options (such as from Apple themselves).

Let me say that again.

16GB.

It might just be me but this honestly seems like a crime in itself to have smartphones that offer 16GB capacity and if the consumer wants a storage capacity more standard of 2016 (say 32GB or 64GB), they will have to pay through the roof prices to get it! For example, an 64GB micro SD card price as compared to a 16GB card is, on average, around 15 dollars more expensive (taken from Amazon.com). However, Apple claims the cost of this, for them, is $100! To make clear the point of this article, here are three reasons why 16GB smartphones should be banned or made illegal in 2016.

#1 16GB = 42 Minutes of 4K Video

The first reason 16GB should be banned from featuring in smartphones is because of 4K. The vast majority of smartphones now contain cameras which are able to not only shoot 4K but shoot 4K at an impressive 60 frames per seconds. Based on technical information from Apple where they claim one minute of 4K at 60 frames per second equates to 375MB, this does mean a 16GB iPhone 6s can only record 42 minutes of 4K before completing running out of storage. Considering the fact the iOS 10 will take up around 2.9GB of storage and let’s pretend you won’t install not one app or download not one song or take not one picture, this means the true time you can record 4K video is in fact juts 35 minutes…

#2 Apps are Increasing in Size

It is not common to see apps under 100MB in size. In actual fact, apps are now averaging between 100MB-1GB in size simply because as technology improves, the features and code that apps are made out of increases, causing the overall size of the app size to increase. Again, this is not good news for 16GB smartphone owners who, if they want to download, say, 10 apps, they will have to constantly renegotiate what gets priority storage for the rest of the smartphone’s life.

Ultimately, 16GB smartphones need to die and should do in 2016. 4K has finally gone mainstream by OEMs of smartphones which should give the push to those high up to make the decision to say ’16GB is just not enough for the specs of this phone: even with an optional SD card’. The great thing is that I will most likely have a follow up email in five years time stating 64GB is not enough for 16K. But, that is exactly how technology works and the hardware of smartphones need to stay up to date with this fast-paced market.