On most phones we list, moving up one storage tier adds a meaningful amount to the total cost of a contract, and moving up two tiers can add a lot. Unlike the camera or screen, storage is easy to reason about, and most people can size it correctly in five minutes.
Check what you use now
On an iPhone: Settings → General → iPhone Storage. On Android: Settings → Storage. The bar at the top shows total used, and the breakdown underneath shows what is using it. Photos and videos, downloaded video for offline watching, and games are the usual culprits; apps themselves rarely add up to much.
Rough sizing
- 64GB — only found on older or very cheap phones now. Fine for calls, messaging and a modest photo library if it backs up to the cloud.
- 128GB — the sensible default for most people. Thousands of photos, a few big games, some offline video.
- 256GB — for people who shoot a lot of video, keep large offline libraries, or simply never delete anything and do not want to think about it.
- 512GB and above — 4K video creators, and people who use the phone as their main camera for years without offloading.
Three things that change the answer
- Cloud backup. If your photos go to iCloud or Google Photos and you are happy to let the phone keep only recent ones locally, you need far less on the device. This is the single biggest lever.
- Video. A minute of 4K video is roughly 300–400MB. If you record a lot at that quality, 128GB fills fast.
- How long you will keep the phone. Usage grows. If you plan to keep it four years, buy a tier above what you use today.
Expandable storage
Most flagships dropped the microSD slot years ago; some mid-range Android phones still have one. Where it exists it is a cheap way to add space for photos and video, though apps generally still need internal storage.
On any phone page you can filter deals by storage size to see exactly what each tier adds. Start with the phone you want.