It looks like all it took was getting ridiculed on TV for Samsung to change its stance on the Samsung Galaxy S4 memory issue. We first reported that when customers began receiving their Samsung Galaxy S4s they were shocked by the amount of available storage on the smartphone. Samsung Galaxy S4 owners took to online forums on the day they received their Galaxy S4 to report the smartphone had nowhere near the amount of memory they thought they were getting.
Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S4 16GB got hit the hardest with the amount of available storage; almost half of the memory was already used. The 16GB Samsung Galaxy S4 ships with 8.82GB available for a user to install apps, music, movies, pictures and more. It is widely understood a device never has the exact amount of storage advertised, but a little more than half is unacceptable. The 16GB Samsung Galaxy S4 is believed to be the biggest seller compared to the 32GB and 64GB due to its cheaper price. T-Mobile in the U.S. only offers its customers the 16GB Samsung Galaxy S4, so you can now see why this is turning into a bigger deal than Samsung originally anticipated.
Samsung finally addressed the issue by releasing this statement:
"For the Galaxy S4 16GB model, approximately 6.85GB occupies [the] system part of internal memory, which is 1GB bigger than that of the Galaxy S3, in order to provide [a] high resolution display and more powerful features to our consumers. To offer the ultimate mobile experience to our users, Samsung provides [a] microSD slot on Galaxy S4 for extension of memory."
A UK consumer affairs show investigated the claims of the Samsung Galaxy S4 memory issue. The BBC's Watchdog confirmed on television that the 16GB Samsung Galaxy S4 does in fact ship with almost half of its storage used, something any Galaxy S4 owner could confirm as well. Samsung has now changed its tune on the issue after being called out about it on television.
Samsung reached out to CNET to release a new statement regarding the issue:
"We appreciate this issue being raised and we will improve our communications. Also, we are reviewing the possibility to secure more memory space through further software optimization. Samsung is committed to listening to our customers and responding to their needs as part of our innovation process."
It would have been much easier to include a microSD card in each Samsung Galaxy S4 box to make up for its lack of memory compared to the negative feedback the Galaxy S4 is now receiving. Lack of memory is something Samsung has just proven to be an issue with the company as well, as evidenced by the two Samsung issued statements.
