More and more rumors seem to be surfacing that we should strongly consider lowering our expectations for this year’s iPhone launch, which is expected to arrive in September. Allegedly, the iPhone will be moving away from their tradition of drastically changing the iPhone every two years, and have decided to save their best moves for 2017. Whether it’s true or just a product of rumor has yet to be seen, but when somebody tries to under-hype something, I usually go for it (and prefer it to hyping something too much).

However, even if Apple decides to make minimal changes to the iPhone, there still needs to be some changes or nobody will buy the new iPhone. One of the changes reported is to remove the 3.5mm headphone jack (which may or may not be a good change, depending on who you ask). Another change that people are at least hoping to see would be raising the base amount of internal storage to 32GB instead of the 16GB that Apple has been using for the iPhone for several years now.

Since we’re relying so heavily on rumors lately, it’s been a toss-up whether Apple will keep 16GB or not. I haven’t seen any consistent reports, and while I’d like to believe that this year is the year that Apple will change, I don’t have any reason to believe that’s about to happen. At this point, Apple seems committed to 16GB.

Even if Apple were to go with 16GB again, though, there is a possibility for redemption from those who are past the days where 16GB was considered “good”, and that possibility comes in the form of more iCloud storage.

Apple has always given iOS users 5GB of free iCloud storage per iTunes account. Once upon a time, that was a sweet deal. These days? Not so much. If you want any more than 5GB, you are more than welcome to expand – but you'll have to pay a fee.

Now, personally, I haven’t found Apple’s iCloud plans to be too outrageous. For $0.99 each month you can add an extra 50GB of storage; $2.99 will get you 200GB; $9.99 gets you 1TB. Honestly, these prices seem really fair, especially when you consider that you pay $100 extra per storage tier when it comes to internal storage. iCloud storage costs a fraction of that for much more storage.

But despite how cheap it is, I still see two problems here. One is that not everybody is on board with storing things in the cloud yet – and at this point, I’m not sure it will ever entirely catch on without being forced. Two, Apple could probably spare a few more gigs for free. 5GB to 50GB is a big jump – and while the $0.99 makes it seem well worth it, I think people would be pleased if Apple were to increase the amount of included free iCloud storage.

I think that 25GB for free would be a good start. It’s half of the amount of the first paid tier, and it seems like a good enough amount to offset 16GB iPhone buyers if they don’t mind using cloud storage. If we’re getting overly ambitious (which is a dangerous line to walk) I would really like to see 50GB for free, with the $0.99 monthly charge being removed. That would be a pretty cool move from Apple.

I think I will always prefer having storage on my phone rather than using the cloud. I’ve resorted to using different cloud storage solutions recently, but I would definitely prefer something that I know is on my phone – or at the very least, doesn’t require a monthly subscription fee. Apple’s 5GB of free iCloud storage seems equally as outdated as its 16GB internal storage solution, so it would seem like either one or the other (if not both) could use a boost this year, particularly if Apple doesn’t plan to change much else with the iPhone 7.

Readers, what are your thoughts on the matter? Would a larger amount of free iCloud storage make up for the smaller amount of internal storage, should Apple decide to keep the 16GB base model? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!