For some, the big news from today’s Apple event could be the long-awaited introduction of the USB-C connector for iPhone 15 devices. For others, perhaps the spatial video capabilities introduced with the iPhone 15 Pro.
But for storage enthusiasts, the real highlight of the event was quickly sneaked in by Apple at the end. And what was that? New iCloud+ storage plans.
Apple has announced that two new, larger plans have finally been added to the currently available 50GB, 200GB, and 2TB options: 6TB and 12TB.
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For over a decade, Apple has offered 5GB (lol) of free storage to all iCloud users, along with a small 50GB plan for 99 cents, a 200GB plan for $2.99, and the largest 2TB plan available for $9.99. Every year since then, Apple has announced higher quality videos, photos, and other features that will likely require larger storage space for users who want to continuously backup to the cloud.
Mashable actually pointed out this issue last year, after Apple’s iPhone 14 event, calling on the company to offer bigger plans.
At the time, Mashable shared a solution that would give users 4TB of iCloud space, but this required users to sign up for an additional Apple subscription. That service, Apple One, offers users bundled subscriptions to Apple’s other subscription services, such as Apple Music and Apple TV+. To get 4TB of iCloud+ space, a user would have to sign up for the highest Apple One tier for $29.95 per month, while still paying for their $9.99 monthly iCloud+ 2TB plan.
Basically, 4TB would previously cost a user about $40 per month, about four times the price of iCloud+ 2TB.
Now, users who need the extra iCloud+ space but aren’t interested in Apple One’s other bundled services can get even more iCloud storage space at a lower cost with these new plans.
According to Apple, the new iCloud+ plans cost $29.99 per month for 6TB and $59.99 per month for 12TB. They are available from Monday 18 September.