Hope you’ve got plenty of space available on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, because the glossier, higher-end apps and games on the App Store are about to get even larger than they are already.

That’s because Apple has doubled the file size limit for iOS apps, now allowing downloads as large as 4GB in size. Four gigabytes! That’s a serious amount of data, especially for something you may be enjoying on a few-inch display.

Of course, not all apps and games will suddenly have massive footprints because of the cap increase. In fact, many app makers trim their file sizes – often cutting the quality of artwork or requiring users to download more content upon opening the app – to fit under Apple’s cellular download limit of 100MB. That number hasn’t changed.

In reality, raising the limit so significantly is mostly a great thing. It means that developers can bring even richer and more comprehensive experiences to touch devices, and especially means that game makers can go all-out in developing large, stunning worlds to explore.

But for device owners, there’s a problem of practicality. Apple still ships its entry-level iPhone and iPad devices with just 16GB of unformatted storage, and by the time the OS is installed, you’re left with a much smaller figure (and there’s even a lawsuit over it). Can you imagine only being able to fit a couple super-sized apps at once?

To get the most out of one of Apple’s premium devices, you really need a premium amount of storage to work with, and that’s never been more true than after this size limit shift. Here’s hoping that Apple likewise doubles the storage of its cheapest devices when the next wave launches.

But seeing as the average selling price per iPhone keeps ticking upwards as customers feel compelled to shell out for added storage, there’s sadly little incentive for Apple to do so.

Source: Apple, AppleInsider