Apple's iPhone has set the standard for smartphones in many ways. Not only does Apple make the best camera phone you can buy today, but the list of best phones overall is studded with various iPhone models. When it comes to design, software, and overall smartphone experience, the iPhone puts to shame many would-be rivals for the smartphone crown.

Unless Apple turns its attention to the storage on the entry-level iPhone models. In that case, competitors will have the iPhone's number.

I'm not talking about the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, which offer a healthy 128GB of onboard storage in their base configuration. Of course, this is a big change from the iPhone 11 Pro, which started with 64GB of storage; perhaps "Pro" stands for "prohibitively small.

The iPhone 12 Pro models may have more base storage than previous versions of Apple's phones, but that mandate did not extend to the iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 mini. These models still start with a paltry 64GB of onboard storage. And given Apple's "never use the microSD slot" policy, iPhone shoppers will have a dilemma when purchasing a lower-priced version of Apple's flagship model - make do with 64GB of storage on the base model or pay an extra $50 Or pay an extra $50 to increase the storage to an acceptable 128GB.

The new iPhones present an opportunity to correct old mistakes, and Apple is expected to introduce new iPhone 13 models this fall in the same four variations as the iPhone 12 lineup. There will no doubt be major changes that touch on everything from display refresh speeds to camera features, but hopefully Apple will remember to increase the amount of storage on the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini.

A look at the storage on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini and other phones of roughly the same price shows where Apple falls short.

These days, 128GB of storage is table stakes for flagship phones, and Apple seems to recognize it, at least in the Pro models. Some phones on this list have expandable storage, some do not, but with the exception of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini, all models start with at least 128GB.

To find a 64GB phone, one usually has to look around for mid-range or budget models. Again, the Galaxy A52 5G is $200 cheaper than the iPhone 12 mini and has twice the storage of the base model, outperforming the latest iPhone.

So what is preventing Apple from following the lead of other phone makers and putting a reasonable amount of storage on its two least expensive flagship models? One possible explanation is the cost of increasing capacity, but Avi Greengart, principal analyst at Techsponential, told me that is probably not the case.

"Storage is not the most expensive component of a phone, but it is not cheap, and Apple uses storage as a way to create price hierarchy and maintain high margins," Greengart said." There are definitely supply constraints on memory now, and prices are rising."

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If storage is one of the ways to distinguish Apple's standard phones and its Pro models, the iPhone 13 seems to make that distinction moot, based on other rumored changes apparently headed for these phones. It is the iPhone 13 Pro model that is expected to feature a dynamically refreshing 120Hz display, not the iPhone 13 or iPhone 13 mini. Likewise, the most interesting camera addition to the iPhone 13 will be on the Pro model. Why not give the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini a little extra storage love?

It may seem like a minor detail, but storage is increasingly becoming a commodity value in cell phones in an era when device makers are encouraging people to take more photos. And given Apple's emphasis on photo capabilities, the company will want to make sure that the iPhone has enough space to store all of its images.

"Consumers who take a lot of pictures and store a lot of video will undoubtedly try to buy a phone with a large basic storage capacity," says Greengart. But that costs money, too. Not when they buy the phone, but every month.

Apple has little direct incentive to increase storage on the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini. After all, no one is making a purchase decision based on the amount of storage on a phone. If anything, customers are simply shrugging their shoulders and paying extra for more storage or purchasing an iCloud subscription.

But paltry storage remains a flaw, and one that is easily fixable. It is something Apple should address with the iPhone 13.