Thanks in large part to the 3D Touch technology and my desire to continue using my Apple Watch I pre-ordered an Apple iPhone 6s Plus. I did not order a 16GB model and looking at the price/GB, 4K video size, impact of Live Photos, and possible iOS app size the only logical reason Apple is offering the 16GB model is profit.
Prior to the Apple iPhone 6s announcement ZDNet's Kevin Tofel wrote that it was likely Apple would still start at 16GB for the base model. This rumor turned out to be true and I completely agree with Kevin about the reason behind it.
It's not necessarily profit on the 16GB model, but the profit gained by essentially forcing people to the 64GB model when they realize how much of a ripoff the 16GB model is. Let's take a closer look at why no one should consider the 16GB model.
With the US subsidized phone model, millions of people went into their carrier store and bought the lowest price iPhone. Many of these people thought their iPhone was $100 or $200, but we've talked about that myth several times before and won't go into that again.
Against my recommendation, and in order to save $100, several family members have purchased the 8GB or 16GB older base models over the last couple of years. Every single one of them has come to me over the past year asking why they keep getting low storage warnings and expressing frustrations with running out of storage capacity since they all use the iPhone as their primary camera.
Apple's official statement is that a 16GB makes the phone more affordable for the consumer and cloud storage is a viable solution. At a base price of $649, no iPhone can be considered affordable. Cloud storage works for some, but it's still not adopted by the masses and to get a reasonable cloud capacity it is going to still cost you extra money.
Given the unique new Apple-managed iPhone Upgrade Program, consumers will be able to pay for their iPhone 6s in monthly installments. This makes the pain of buying the 64GB (about $5/month more) or 128GB (about $10/month more) model a bit less so it should be easier for consumers to make the jump to the 64GB model.
If Apple offered the base model with 32GB then it is likely this would be the most popular model available and Apple wouldn't be able to upsell people to the next model. It's a good strategy for shareholders and Apple's profitability, but it is definitely not consumer friendly.