Why hasn't internal memory on phones increased much?

I got passed down an iphone 3Gs with a storage capacity of 32gb a number of years ago. Most pads don't seem to have too much more, and many phones of people I know come standard at 16gb. Considering the amount time that's passed, I would have thought that creating larger storage capacity for in a smaller space for cheaper would have taken more precedent, but as far as phones go, you still pay a decent premium for it.

OK, you need to get your terms straight. That's not memory, that's storage space. Memory is RAM. And no, they're not the same thing.

A decent phone will start at 2GB RAM. Storage space is up to 128GB in many current models.

IPhone 7 has 128 gigs

Depends on the phones you are looking at. Considering you said an iPhone 3GS, which is a high end phone, these days 32GB is considered the standard storage for those.

Some cheaper phones would come with 16GB or less or more in an effort to reduce costs.

Newer iPhones come with up to 256gb internal storage. That's the largest internal capacity of any smartphone I think. 128gb and 64gb are other options you can choose.

Depends on the phones you are looking at… Considering you said an iphone 3gs, which is a high end phone, these days 32gb is considered the standard storage for those…

some cheaper phones would come with 16gb or less or more in an effort to reduce costs…