Apple finally bumped the storage on the baseline iPhone model to 32GB this year, but it looks like choosing the cheapest model may come with some serious speed setbacks.
The 32GB versions of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus suffer from slower storage speeds, according to benchmarks that reveal the memory chip on the baseline model scores markedly worse than other versions.
Speedgate: Do 32GB iPhone 7 models have slower memory?
“Speedgate” is the latest entry in the iPhone defect canon. The long, sad history of iPhone problems — both real and ridiculously overblown — started with the iPhone 4’s Antennagate and continued through iPhone 6’s Bendgate, the iPhone 6s’ Chipgate and the new jet black iPhone 7’s Scuffgate.
Over the years, the discovery of “defects” in any new iPhone became a cottage industry, with bloggers and YouTubers pounding on just-launched models and submitting the handsets to insane torture tests as well as more legit trials.
This time around, both synthetic benchmarks and real-life performance tests appear to confirm GSMArena’s theory that Apple made storage performance worse on the 32GB iPhone 7.
Testing memory of 32GB iPhone 7
The site ran a series of Basemark OS II tests on the 32GB iPhone 7, 128GB iPhone 7 and 64GB iPhone 6s Plus. The 32GB model never scored above 800 points, while the 128GB iPhone 7 and 64GB iPhone 6s Plus scored between 1300 and 1700 points.
The lower storage option performs nearly as well as the other units when it comes to reading data. But its write speed is markedly slower. The 128 iPhone 7 Plus is 8 times faster.
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For its real-world test on the 32GB iPhone 7’s write speed, GSMArena had each device trim a 10-minute 4K video in half. Processing the file took the 32GB iPhone 7 three times longer, so it’s definitely something you’ll notice when working with big files.
Testing was not done with more than one 32GB iPhone 7 device, so it could be that the site used a malfunctioning unit. Cult of Mac reached out to Apple for more information on the device’s apparently slower write speeds.
If you have an iPhone 7 and want to test your storage speed, you can download PassMark and BaseMark OS II benchmarking tools on the App Store for free.
Share your score below so we can see if Speedgate (or “Memorygate,” as GSMArena calls it) is a real thing.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
18 responses to “Cheaper iPhone 7 models may be slower, too”
Slower write speeds…perhaps they figured the people buying these models weren’t going to be doing a lot of photography/videography, so they don’t need to be able to write video or burst photos as rapidly as on the larger storage tiers.
“Figured” or “Speculated” aren’t valid excuses for this kind of screw-up. People are paying for a base capacity device exactly like the others, not a slower one. And i’m sure that people’s gonna be doing lots of photography and videography on those devices.
This is ruled intentional and then it becomes the dumbest thing ever made
Oh I definitely didn’t mean to make up an excuse for them. I was just trying to figure out why they might have done this. It seemed like a plausible explanation, even though it’s not fair to their users.
All they figured out is how to earn even more money on already overpriced item… It goes to most manufacturers, not just Apple
This is exactly how SSD memory works. This isn’t a scandal or defect.
just tried it with iPhone 7 black 32 gb. and memory write speed is 14290, then i did it again and it was 15655, and again 15427, and again 15580.
What kind of memory? You have to benchmark the storage memory not the RAM.
I just tried it out. I got 1338 on my iPhone 7 with 32 GB.
1287, iPhone 7 plus 32GB
It is possible it could be a bad unit. I have a 128GB unit and while this one is fine it was not smooth upgrading. My first had a confirmed bad bluetooth chip. The second had a confirmed bad GPS chip and the third could not read any SIM (they tried 8). I found it hard to believe that I got three bad units but they confirmed in store with each. I have had every flagship iPhone since the 3g and never had an issue till the 7.
I have a 256GB 7 Plus and my speeds are faster than the 128GB listed. My diskmark was 81K versus 69K. I don’t think that means everyone got screwed that didn’t get a 256GB. Wouldn’t iPhone storage be similar enough to SSD drives in computers where larger drives typically perform faster than smaller ones of the same product line? I’ve never seen a 60GB SSD that was nearly as fast as it’s 512GB sibling. Maybe that analogy is a stretch but this doesn’t surprise me at all.
iPhone 7 black 32 gb , i got 1308..
had the same result for my benchmark test with my iphone 7 black 32gb. pissed, il be returning it tomorrow, apple never advertised the fact that 32 gb versions had inferior speeds
iPhone7 32GB Basemark Memory Test: 1344
Hey guys: this is not an issue with just the iPhone. This is how SSDs work.
iPhone 7 Plus 256 (black is faster) Passmark results:
System: 8466
CPU: 48766
Disk: 79673 (343MB/Sec write, 837MB/Sec read)
Memory: 24765 (4257 MB/Sec write, 4276 MB/Sec read)
2D: 5416
3D: 2019
Basemark results on same phone:
Overall: 3618
System: 6365
Memory: 2605
Graphics: 6754
Web: 1530
On my 32GB Black, I get 42 Mbyte/sec write speed in Passmark. My Basemark score is 898 for Memory. Both are in line with what they got. So I must either have a bad phone or Apple is messing with me. Now I am definitely going to return it and get the 128GB.