Fewer iPhone buyers are paying up for storage upgrades in the US

The share of iPhone buyers in the US that are paying up to upgrade from the base storage trim declined in 2024. The latest report from the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) looks at the percentage of iPhone buyers upgrading the base storage trim on their iPhones for the December quarters in 2023 and 2024, and the results show a decline across the board.

The findings also suggest that more consumers now rely on cloud storage, which is a big revenue driver for Apple. Apple currently has three base iPhone storage trims - 64GB for the iPhone SE (2022), 128GB for the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 256GB for the 16 Pro Max.

Upgrading from the 64GB iPhone SE (2022) to the version with 128GB storage is $50, while the 128 to 256GB upgrade on the iPhone 14, 15 and 16 series is $100. The jump from 256GB to 512GB on the 16 Pro Max is $200, while the top-tier 1TB version is $300 more than the baseline 256GB trim.

Percent of iPhone buyers upgrading from base storage by model (December quarter of 2023 and 2024)

As per the CIRP report, 44% of iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max buyers in 2024 upgraded past the base storage trim compared to 48% for the iPhone 15 Pro series in 2023. The fall was slightly more pronounced for the base iPhone 16/16 Plus where 42% of buyers paid up for more storage compared to 48% on the iPhone 15 generation in the prior year.

The one area where there was an increase in buyers paying up for storage was for the “legacy devices” such as the iPhone SE (2022), iPhone 14, and iPhone 15 with 48% of buyers in 2024 opting for more storage compared to 38% in the prior year.

Apple iPhone 16

Apple iPhone 16 Plus

Apple iPhone 16 Pro

Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

Source