Why Android phones have so little flash space?

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MorgothPl

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The common trend among even the flagship handsets is 16GB. Only Note 4 has 32 GB. I Wonder, why. I know, you can put SD card, but most of the apps can't be installed or moved into it, forcing user to install app in main memory.

My z1 has,, after gogle apps/bloatware/system 11 GB free. That's what - 4-5 games, some other apps, and I'm out of space. Same with the other handsets.

Yes, Lollipop remvoes some of SD restrictions, but I doubt many devs will take up onit, and make their apps installable/movable to the card. So I Wonder, if it's not the time for the phone makers, to be more generous with their offerings. I'd not mind 32GB becoming standard, with some versions of 64/128GB versions of the phone. Wouldn't mind to pay extra, if that means I'd not have space problems.
 
I think one of the reasons behind low storage space is that Google would like you to use cloud storage, that's one of the reason the Nexus phones don't have SD slots.
 
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A quick note: the HTC One M8 starts with 32GB!

As it stands, cost is likely still the main factor; it's not just that they're being stingy, it's that the baseline cost of flash memory hasn't gone down as much as at the higher end. As for free space... well, that's basically the fate you're consigned to if you get a non-stock Android phone. If you want a relatively clean install, you're looking at either a Nexus / Moto X or an iPhone.
 
Aurelius said:
A quick note: the HTC One M8 starts with 32GB!

As it stands, cost is likely still the main factor; it's not just that they're being stingy, it's that the baseline cost of flash memory hasn't gone down as much as at the higher end. As for free space... well, that's basically the fate you're consigned to if you get a non-stock Android phone. If you want a relatively clean install, you're looking at either a Nexus / Moto X or an iPhone.
Click to expand...

ALL phones could come with 32GB of storage instead of 16GB with a few dollars more cost to the vendor. Max.

They could do it if they wanted.
 
I think it's a little more complicated than that.

Phone vendors could easily put a bigger flash on their phones yes, but the extra cost would probably cut into their possibly meager profit on the phones too much.

The biggest profiteer of Android phones is not the manufacturer, but Google, since they provide the software service, where a large percentage of the smartphone business profit lies, hardware doesn't actually earn that much compared to software. Also, andriod phones have themselves to compete against, not just Apple or Windows (iPhone for example has no competition in the iOS department), so that would cut into their already smaller phone margin even more.

Simply put, if iPhones were sold at cost price, if its stock was unlimited, all other android phone makers would probably exit the market, since they no longer have any source of profit, leaving Google and windows their only remaining competition (both have software to sustain their business), if apples decides to go that route.

That's just my theory, how true it actually is I have no idea, it could be entirely fiction.
 
maybe a couple reasons based around "most" consumer thoughts..
don't really care if it's 16gigs
cheaper to buy a larger sd card (sticker shock 16 vs. 32)
 
QwertyJuan said:
ALL phones could come with 32GB of storage instead of 16GB with a few dollars more cost to the vendor. Max.

They could do it if they wanted.
Click to expand...

Will you pay more for your phone to make sure that happens?

I think a lot of us pretend that we know how much a device really costs and that company X or Y could simply add the feature we want without trouble... but, well, we don't. It's not just about paying a few bucks more; they know how large their profit margins will be, whether or not they can get enough units of a certain capacity memory chip, and so on. That's not to say that companies aren't at least sometimes holding back unnecessarily, but it's probably not as simple as we like to think.

With that said, I think you'll get your wish in 2015 on many higher-end phones thanks to economies of scale. Mid-range and below? Not so much.
 
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