Apple has now posted the new, cheaper iCloud storage costs and you can upgrade or downgrade at any time. I was on the old 50GB package (55GB including the free initial 5GB awarded to all iCloud users) and paid £70 for the year, equivalent to £5.84 a month. The new rates are:
- 5GB, free
- 20GB (total 25GB), 79p per month (£9.48 per annum)
- 200GB (total 205GB), £2.99 pm (£35.88 pa)
- 500GB (total 505GB), £6.99 pm (£83.88 pa)
- 1TB (total 1.005TB), £14.99 pm (£179.88 pa)
For my current usage 20GB is too little and 200GB too much storage. However, although the current plan doesn’t expire until late October, I have upgraded now to the 200GB level and should be in line for a small pro-rata reduction on the annual advance fee.
UPDATE: Apple is now writing to all customers on legacy annual plans to give them the option to stay on storage levels (for instance 50GB) that are not now available in the above list. I assume this means a pro-rata reduction. As I understand it, I could have stayed on my old 50GB plan but the cost would be reduced to a pro-rata calculation based on the difference between the above 20GB and 200GB plans. In practice, in my case, it will make little difference. But I have placed a call to Apple support to see if my hasty decision of yesterday can be unpicked. According to the notice, however, moving from a legacy plan cannot be reversed.