How Much Storage Do You Actually Need?

Buying too much storage wastes money, and too little means constant cleanup. The right amount depends on what you actually keep, so here's a practical way to figure it out.

Start with what you store

Photos and videos eat the most space, followed by apps and games. Documents and music are relatively small. Add up what you actually keep, then add headroom for growth.

Rough guidelines

• 128GB: enough for light use, browsing, and cloud-first users
• 256GB: comfortable for most people with some photos and apps
• 512GB: good for people who keep a lot of photos or games
• 1TB or more: for video, large photo libraries, or heavy gaming

The cloud factor

If you store photos and files in the cloud, you can get away with less local storage. If you keep everything on-device, you'll want more. Cloud subscriptions can be cheaper than buying bigger storage.

Be honest about your photo and video habits, since those dominate storage. For most people, 256GB to 512GB is the comfortable range, with 1TB for heavy media users.