Apple fans were excited to see the company double the base storage on the iPhone 17, but the cheapest models appear to have a different limitation.
Apple gave the standard iPhone 17 a big storage upgrade over its predecessor. The phone now starts at 256GB instead of 128GB, but you don’t have to pay the extra $100 the upgrade would have cost last year. Every iPhone 17 model and the iPhone Air start at 256GB of storage this year, which is a big win for consumers. As with the base iPhone 17, buyers don’t have to pay extra, as the 256GB tiers cost the same as last year’s 128GB iPhones. The $999 256GB iPhone Air doesn’t have a predecessor, but it has the same price as the $999 iPhone 16 Plus.
However, The Mac Observer relays a discovery from China concerning the performance of the 256GB storage tier compared to 512GB (and higher) variants. According to YouTuber DirectorFeng, the 256GB storage models feature slower flash memory than the higher storage options for all three iPhone 17 models. The iPhone Air seems to be the only exception, as Apple is apparently using the same high-speed storage in the 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB options.
