[dennisw]

How much would it cost Apple to bump 16GB to 32GB? At today’s prices, according to IHS, roughly $6.72 per smartphone.

Its at 16gb for four reasons

1. to accentuate product differentiation which ...
2. in turn gives prospective buyers more to think and gossip about
3. Apple knows their buyers kind of like the haughty disdain and abuse......it reassures them that they are getting a superior product
4. Apple wants the extra 50-70$ (I don't really know) that it gets for the 32gb model which also is a step up in other ways
5. --
6. you would think Apple would at least put a mini-sd card slot in there...see reason #3 for an explanation

[Swordmaker]

6. you would think Apple would at least put a mini-sd card slot in there...see reason #3 for an explanation

Many people do fine with just 12GBs of available storage. Enterprise companies who buy iPhones are quite happy with that level of storage because the apps they put on their locked-down, company issued phones are very limited.

No, mini-SD cards would be a security risk for every Enterprise company that allows bring your own device. The presence of such cards makes theft of business secrets is too easy with a card. That is one of the reasons that Google Android has dropped support for SD cards on Android phones. Such cards were keeping Android out of Enterprise acceptance.

Apple wants the extra 50-70$ (I don't really know) that it gets for the 32gb model which also is a step up in other ways

There IS no 32GB iPhone 6s model. The next step up is the iPhone 64GB, so your argument is null and void.

IHS is using the cost estimates for an SD card memory. . . but it is not the far faster speed memory used for SSD drive memory which is what Apple uses for the logic board storage inside iPhones. That memory is far more expensive. Check what the pricing is on that before you start damning their price factors for fast memory that is mapped to the logic board, and is not required to be swapped in and out like external storage like the slow SD card memory is. Now, make it very small form factor, and check that price.