Written by William Antonelli; edited by John Lynch
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- You can buy an iPhone with five different amounts of storage space: 64 gigabytes, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and one terabyte.
- Most iPhone users won't need more than 256GB, or 512GB if you take a lot of photos and videos.
- Apple also offers online iCloud storage, which can help free up your device's internal storage.
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Every new iPhone comes with an upgraded camera, which is great for taking beautiful photos. But the higher quality your photos and videos are, the more space they take to store.
This means that having enough storage on your iPhone is more important than ever. And luckily, Apple gives users a decent amount of control over how much storage they have.
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iPhones come in five different storage sizes
Depending on what kind of iPhone you're buying, you can get one of five different storage sizes. Here's a quick chart showing what each iPhone that Apple currently sells offers:
| iPhone Model | Storage Sizes Offered | Price |
| iPhone SE (2nd generation) | 64 gigabytes (GB), 128GB, 256GB | $429, $479, $579 |
| iPhone 12 | 64GB, 128GB, 256GB | $599, $649, $749 |
| iPhone 13 mini | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | $599, $699, $899 |
| iPhone 13 | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | $699, $799, $999 |
| iPhone 14 | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | $799, $899, $1099 |
| iPhone 14 Plus | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | $899, $999, $1199 |
| iPhone 14 Pro | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, one terabyte (TB) | $999, $1099, $1299, $1499 |
| iPhone 14 Pro Max | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | $1099, $1199, $1399, $1599 |
One terabyte, the largest size, is about twice as much storage space as the 512GB option.
A typical photo taken with the iPhone's main camera is about 2MB large, or 0.002GB. In other words, it takes about 500 photos to fill one gigabyte. Apps can range from 2MB to 2GB, depending on what they're for and how much you use them.
And a few GB of space is always taken up by important system files, which are difficult to delete or compress.
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How much iPhone storage do I need?
No matter what kind of iPhone you're buying, you've got a few different storage options. So which one is right for you?
128GB and 256GB are the best options for most users. They offer enough storage space for thousands of photos and videos, along with dozens of apps.
At this point, it's a mistake to buy anything with only 64GB. Apps and photos are big enough now that you're going to be running out of space quickly.
If you constantly use your iPhone for professional work — if you're a photographer, for example — or want it to be your main gaming device, then consider 512GB. For regular users, though, it's a bit overkill.
The only reason you'd ever need a 1TB iPhone is if you're regularly recording 4K or 8K video, and your iPhone is the only place you have to store it. Unless your entire world and career revolves around a single iPhone, you don't need 1TB.
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iCloud gives you more storage space
Even if you've already bought an iPhone, you're not stuck with whatever storage space you bought.
You can link your iPhone to a free Apple ID account, which comes with 5GB of free online iCloud storage. And if you're willing to pay a monthly fee, you can upgrade that 5GB to 50GB ($0.99 per month), 200GB ($2.99/month), or 2TB ($9.99/month).
To manage what gets saved to your iCloud drive, open the iPhone's Settings app and tap your name at the very top, and then iCloud.
One of the best features you can turn in here is the Optimize iPhone Storage setting. When this is on, any photo or video you take won't be stored on your device. Instead, you'll only have a preview saved, and opening that photo or video in the Photos app will download the original right then and there. This can save gigabytes of space without deleting any data.
You can turn this on by opening that iCloud menu, tapping Photos, and then selecting the Optimize iPhone Storage option.
William Antonelli
Tech Reporter for Insider Reviews
William Antonelli (he/she/they) is a writer, editor, and organizer based in New York City. As a founding member of the Reference team, he helped grow Tech Reference (now part of Insider Reviews) from humble beginnings into a juggernaut that attracts over 20 million visits a month. Outside of Insider, his writing has appeared in publications like Polygon, The Outline, Kotaku, and more. He's also a go-to source for tech analysis on channels like Newsy, Cheddar, and NewsNation. You can find him on Twitter @DubsRewatcher, or reach him by email at [email protected].
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