Just because they sell a 16GB version doesn't mean you had to buy it. Needing lots of space to record video is a niche anyway, like needing the iPod classic for large audio libraries. People store images, video, and music on cloud services now.
One of the biggest mistakes apple made this year is introducing the base model with only 16GB of space. Even though I love my iPhone, I think this is a critical flaw.
Your Luddism at the end seems reactionary.