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Got a 32GB iPhone 7? It might be slower than you think

The 32GB-capacity iPhone 7 may transfer large files like photos and movies slower than the 256GB model, according to one YouTuber's test.

Jessica Dolcourt Senior Director, Commerce & Content Operations
Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Commerce & Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Commerce, How-To and Performance Optimization. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds. Jessica began leading CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).
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An iPhone 7 is an iPhone 7, right? Well maybe not, said YouTuber Unbox Therapy in a video test of the iPhone 7's ability to quickly transfer files from a laptop to his phones (video below). In fact, he found the 32GB version of the iPhone 7 to transfer "Star Wars -- Episode IV: A New Hope" significantly slower than the 256GB iPhone 7: 3 minutes, 39 seconds versus 2 minutes, 34 seconds.

Faster write speeds, as they're known, don't usually factor into why someone would want to buy one phone model over another. In fact, this is a well-known phenomenon, and not only in iPhones.

Unbox Therapy's tests leave questions about consistency: it didn't compare all three iPhone 7 storage models in this video, or all three iPhone 7 Plus models compared to each other. It also didn't take into account if write speeds commonly vary between all phones with different capacities: say 32GB and 64GB Samsung Galaxy S7 models. This is something CNET plans to follow up on in-house.

Still, fast write speeds on their own are a fringe advantage for folks who commonly transfer large files like full-length movies and entire TV seasons from their laptop to phone. Say you want to transfer a bunch of movies for a trip -- that few minutes' difference in write time could add up for extra antsy users.

Apple didn't immediately respond to CNET's request for comment. Article updated Monday, October 24 at 9:39am PT with CNET link.

[Via Business Insider]

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