I have 32 GB and don't need more. I use Xaomi Mi A1 from 2017.
No Internet on 3G or 4G data plan. But I have Wifi and a NAS. I don't take much pictures. Maybe 10 per year.
They will notice 100%, and be angry about it as it looks different and don't work the same way. It will be annoying and ask you to revert back so they can work. They dont want to learn something new when they dont have time and are stressed and have not learned anything.
You need to go through it on your own computer first and ask them what they think and why they have to use it.
In comparison: my mom was pissed that I forget that to install Chrome and had to use MS Edge which was too confusing for her to understand. It showed a weird page with news, weather, ad, Bing search etc as soon as she started it and could not understand why she was not seeing the familiar Google search webpage. Edge bad, she said. Too much popus.
Just do exception to Elon then