Yes, 128GB on the newest iPhone is enough for a general user. But since photos and videos take up a lot of space, you might need to consider a higher storage model (such as 256GB, or even 512GB) if you’re a professional content creator.
Hi, I’m Devansh. My current iPhone 13 is my first-ever iPhone. I wanted to avoid the ominous ‘Storage Almost Full’ notification. After doing much research, I decided to go for the 128GB model and haven’t looked back since.
In this article, I’ll help you decide if 128GB is enough for your iPhone based on your requirements or if you need to go higher than that. I’ll also answer some common questions.
If you’re planning on buying a new iPhone but aren’t entirely sure if 128GB might be enough for you, keep reading!
Contents
Is 128GB Sufficient for You?
As you might know, Apple continuously increases the storage available in each base model. They’ve already stopped with 16GB and 32GB options. With the iPhone 13, they discontinued the 64GB option available in the iPhone 12. Now, with the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15, 128GB is the base model available.
What this shows is that storage requirements have increased over time. So, you can see that Apple has definitely put some thought into how much storage they offer in a base model. According to their research, it’s what’s optimal for the average user.
In line with that, if you just use it like any other average user and don’t have any special requirements, you’re good to go with 128GB. What defines an ‘average’ user? You only take a couple of photos or videos a day, stream most content online rather than downloading it, and often use cloud services to offload files.
That being said, it’s also possible that the 128GB model might hinder your user experience. You might need to consider getting a model with more storage based on your requirements.
When Should You Go for 256GB or Higher?
Although I’ve showered the 128GB base model of the iPhone with plenty of praise by now, there are reasons you might want to consider going for a higher storage model too. This applies to photographers, videographers, and vloggers.
It’s almost a given that iPhones come with a brilliant camera system. In my opinion, any professional content creator who wants to take full advantage of the iPhone’s camera would do well to go above 128GB.
If you prefer to shoot in ProRAW or any high-quality format, your storage space will quickly fill up. As you’ll agree, checking how much storage you have left every time you want to take a photo is not fun. With a 256GB model or higher, you can feel free to unleash your creativity without being held back by storage constraints.
Getting a high storage model also determines the camera features you get. Did you know that only the 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB models of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max can record 4K ProRes video at 30FPS? So, if you have high aspirations with your passion, get a high-end model and knock yourself out!
iCloud: A Viable Alternative?
Granted, there’s no way to increase built-in storage in an iPhone. But it’s possible through a software solution: iCloud. After signing up, you get 5GB of free storage. If you go for a monthly plan, you’ll also get access to features like Hide My Email, Private Relay, and HomeKit Secure Video.
iCloud integrates with iOS, but there are also other platforms you can look into: Google Photos, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive. These have their own unique features and paid plans, so do your research before going ahead.
FAQs
Here are some additional questions related to iPhone storage capacity.
How to Check iPhone Storage Capacity?
In the Settings app, open General and tap on iPhone Storage. Besides showing you how much data is occupied (currently, I’m using 40.3GB of 128GB), it also breaks it down for you into various data types, like apps and photos.
iOS is very smart with managing storage. If you scroll down, you’ll find a list of suggestions to free up storage space. Further down, you can browse through a list of all installed apps, see how much storage each one occupies, and tap on it for more info.
How Much Storage Space Does iOS Occupy?
Not all of the storage advertised on your iPhone is practically usable—a portion is occupied with iOS and system data. This could vary depending on the version of iOS, but it’ll take around 8GB or 9GB. System data, which consists of caches and logs, can also vary. So, if you’re getting a 128GB iPhone, consider around 10-15GB of it already taken up.
Conclusion
We’ve certainly come a long way with storage technology, and it’s becoming cheaper and faster every day. However, choosing which iPhone you want is still a big decision. You don’t want to cheap out and regret it later, nor do you want to overspend and get more than you need. 128GB is generally the sweet spot for most users.
If it turns out to be insufficient, you could always use iCloud or other cloud services to offload files to free up space. Additionally, always keep an eye out for the suggestions iOS gives you to optimize the storage space!
Based on what you’ve read in this article, which iPhone model do you intend to purchase? Please share with me in the comments!
