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At the moment, the native storage on smartphones caps out at 1TB on devices like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Even then, 1TB is quite rare and most phone makers tend to offer only up to 512GB of storage. But that could change in the next couple of years as we could start seeing smartphones with 2TB of storage.
This is according to a recent report from TrendForce who claims that Apple could launch a 2TB iPhone in 2026. This will apparently be made possible thanks to the use of quad-level cell storage. For those unfamiliar, QLC allows for the creation of denser storage compared to triple-level cell technology.
TLC storage tech is what’s commonly used today for existing iPhones. By turning to QLC, it would allow Apple to create a 2TB iPhone without dramatically increasing the size of their smartphones. It’s similar to battery tech, where the bigger the capacity, the larger the physical footprint.
That being said, we have to wonder if there’s really a need for 2TB of storage. Rewind the clock 6-7 years ago, phones with microSD card slots were a lot more common. This allowed users to choose how much storage they wanted at a cheaper price. These days, fixed storage is more or less the new standard. The jump in price from one storage tier to the next is also quite huge. So we’d hate to think how much a 2TB iPhone could cost.
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