Apple just massively upgraded free iCloud storage from 5GB to 200GB – for schools

Apple is dramatically increasing the free tier of iCloud storage at the same time it's introducing the education-focused New iPad 9.7 – but the plan is aimed at schools.

iCloud storage is going from a very limited free 5GB of virtual space to 200GB of cloud space, or 40 times as much virtual storage as Apple dolled out before.

Sadly, Apple didn't lay out plans to increase iCloud storage for everyone else, so you'll have to pay for higher tiers of storage, starting at $0.99 a month for 50GB.

Why schools will need it

Apple is planning new student-focused software and expanding its plans to let entire classrooms use an iPad when a one-to-one iPad-to-student ratio isn't possible.

Teachers will be able to issue schoolwork by the new, aptly named Schoolwork app. All of those digital assignments, coding lessons, AR apps and ClassKit apps will take up way more than 5GB of storage.

The other good news is that the New iPad 9.7 will cost $299 for schools instead of the $329 price for consumers with 32GB of internal storage.