While many of us are still debating whether Apple’s new iPhone 8 is worth the premium over the iPhone 7 series, the company has decided to make the choice tougher by pulling the plug on the 256GB variant of iPhone 7. This leaves the customers with just two options – 32GB and 128GB. And if you want the 256GB option, you have no choice but to go for the iPhone 8.
The purpose of the move is fairly clear because Apple discontinued the 256GB iPhone 7 as soon as iPhone 8 was unveiled on September 12. A customer service representative further confirmed that the company no longer sells the said model.
Even though you might not be so hot on iPhone 8 (in spite of its new features like wireless charging and A11 processor), reminiscing those dreadful days of “Storage Full” notifications may persuade you to change your mind. We feel that storage is not a selling point in itself but might be enough to nudge some buyers from iPhone 7 to iPhone 8.
Though it might seem like a sneaky step at first, it’s a classic marketing move to boost the sales of new devices by limiting the choices for older models. By ditching the 256GB iPhone 7, Apple is essentially pushing its customers to go for a 256GB iPhone 8, which isn’t wrong per say.
Already, Apple is having to fight tooth and nail to generate interest in the newly launched iPhone 8, thanks to the shift in interest towards the “redesigned” iPhone X. Hence, the move to discontinue the 256GB variant of iPhone 7 can also be termed as a desperate attempt to give the much needed booster to the iPhone 8 series.
With so many existing models in the market and the launch of two flagships products, this year’s iPhone lineup has turned out to be much more complicated and eventful than the company planned for. iPhone 8, in spite of being a great product, is getting sandwiched between the high end iPhone X and the still-perfectly-good iPhone 7. Let’s see if the sales of its top variant benefit from this sneaky but understandable move from Apple.