Weekly poll results: most people are fine with 256GB storage on their phones

26 June 2022
Some can squeeze into 128GB or less, but not as many as last year. Also, the importance of the microSD slot is waning.

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Anonymous, 26 Jun 2022I choose flagship over midrange for N reason. But it does... moreThe point of whole argument here is that companies ain't giving you any options. Read some comments before you respond.

Also Sony does provide 4K display to watch the recorded 4k videos and pictures as well as MicroSd slot. It's just the other companies who doesn't provide any options to users.

I do own Sony Xperia 1 II. I'm happy with that. I'm currently almost 240+ GB overall (some internal and some SD) 😊. I'm not even a person who stores thousands of pictures or record videos. I don't get apple and Samsung users saying 128GB being enough. It's just sad that I can't buy apple or Samsung for plenty reasons, MicroSd being one of the reasons. I don't like being forced or being a slave.

I'm pretty sure many are forced to buy those smartphones through compromise. It's just sad we have to compromise even today.

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    • Anonymous
    • 6wN
    • 26 Jun 2022

    Kriegsherr, 26 Jun 2022See, you had to buy 8 pairs of earphones/headphones to get ... moreWell. It isn't a problem for me. But in fact I love earbuds/headphones. That's why I have 8 pairs. But many people can have only one wireless earbuds.

      Anonym, 26 Jun 2022You are mistaking it for AM radio, the one that is more lik... moreI think this may be a regional thing. Here in Europe (and I believe actually most places outside the US) AM has been declining to the point where it is hardly relevant any more.FM has full national coverage, the official emergency broadcasters use FM, and most broadcasters have equipment to continue operation during power outages. So yes, FM is what I want, but things may be different at your place.

      That being said, I agree it is by no means critical to have it in the phone. There are usually plenty of receivers around, and not that many disasters.

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        • Anonymous
        • Lkg
        • 26 Jun 2022

        AlexP, 26 Jun 2022Agree. 512 gb is minimum requirements for flagship phones.... moreI choose flagship over midrange for N reason.
        But it does not mean the user needs all this storage.
        Why keeping tons of 4K/8K videos on phones that cannot play properly because they lack these resolutions?

        Even a 64GB storage can easily house much more than 100 apps. Imagine 128GB and above.

        Just because some people need to have 200GB used by games, does not mean people that do not need should be forced to pay for what they do not plan to use.

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          • Anonymous
          • 4Iy
          • 26 Jun 2022

          Anonymous, 26 Jun 2022128 is more than enough if you aren't downloading ever... morereading these comments makes me hate normies

          using a cloud service for storage?

          wanting professional cameras in a handheld computer?

          dropping basic features like sd slot, fm radio, 3.5mm?

          you people are why the market sucks
          because you keep buying "flagship" trash

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            • Anonymous
            • 4Iy
            • 26 Jun 2022

            128 is more than enough if you aren't downloading every video you watch from xhamster for some ungodly reason

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              • AlexP
              • rRU
              • 26 Jun 2022

              The Flip, 26 Jun 2022I don't need storage as much as before because I store... moreWorst desision using Google storage.
              You like public life 🤣

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                • AlexP
                • rRU
                • 26 Jun 2022

                Smithravi, 26 Jun 2022I don't agree with your comment and I just explained w... moreAgree.
                512 gb is minimum requirements for flagship phones.
                My wife has Xperia 1 III 256gb version+ 256gb SD card and few times a year I should transfer video and photo to PC because she has memory full.
                Who's saying that 256gb is enough, they don't care about the memory of their life

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                  • Anonym
                  • Lc1
                  • 26 Jun 2022

                  Zakalwe, 26 Jun 2022FM radio could be nice to have to receive emergency broadca... moreYou are mistaking it for AM radio, the one that is more likely to survive a mass disaster because of low equipment complexity and easy to get up and running. But then again, why use the smartphone for such low-tech use cases? It is woefully unsuitable: you'll likely required a corded headphones pair to work as an antenna (i.e., you're screwed if you can't find them), have shorter battery life than a true AM radio (i.e., rationing access to the lifesaving broadcast is never good), can't run on standard replaceable batteries (e.g., AAs) so when it's gone it's gone, not to mention sheer cost -- AM radios are so cheap you can literally have one everywhere in emergency kits; if there is such a broadcast in place, authorities will even distribute them to the general population.

                    The Flip, 26 Jun 2022The fact that nearly 78% of voters don't need more tha... moreI don't agree with your comment and I just explained why in my previous comment as well.

                    With increasing demand for high quality cameras in flagship segments, SD card slot is lot needed today than 3-4 years ago.

                    Don't speak from business point of view, speak from consumers point of view. Why remove features completely and give no option which are still useful for many of users.

                    My Spotify alone occupies 15GB on internal storage that's without any offline downloaded content. I use 3 chatting apps which uses lots of stickers and have lots of chat history, this all take around 10GB. Don't even get me started with games like CODM.

                    The important for flagships is pictures and videos these days. Just try to record 10min 4K video with a flagships and see how much GB it takes and then comment here.

                    Just because some low end users have never used morethan 128GB, you shouldn't take it for granted whatever companies dictate you. You are not a slave. Demand and Supply. Not Supply and Demand. Unfortunately this is what Apple had made their customers into.


                    It's sad and demeaning that SD card slots are been compared to FMs. 😐

                    *Cloud is slow and you have to pay for it for hight quality as well as for mobile data which is again expensive depending on network and location, outside your home WiFi.

                      The fact that nearly 78% of voters don't need more than 256 GB shows us the changing values from consumers. I remember buying a 128 GB card 5 years ago. Since then, I never bought a microSD higher than that capacity. I might for a Steam Deck.

                      Most consumers just stream content. Then delete whatever they're not watching or playing any more if stored locally. That's what I do. It's not like I'll rewatch them again. And 64-128 GB came in 2nd which means two-thirds don't mind it ranging from 64-256 GB.

                      I see large capacities best use for people who like recording and storing videos in 4K. Or gamers who must store hundreds of games that are over 1 GB per game. Maybe audiophiles who want their music to be at the highest quality.

                      For most consumers, just stream or upload your photos and videos in the cloud. Storing everything locally is as outdated as consumers wanting FM radio.

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                        • blue
                        • 0CN
                        • 26 Jun 2022

                        Zakalwe, 26 Jun 2022FM radio could be nice to have to receive emergency broadca... moreFM radio is slowly leaving in favor of DAB, which is, in fact, totally useless. If you have low signal quality, standard FM radio receives low signal, but it still works. DAB does not.

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                          • Anonymous
                          • Lkg
                          • 26 Jun 2022

                          Anonymous, 26 Jun 2022American Semicon company Micron has announced new card with... more1,5 TB

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                            • Anonymous
                            • Lkg
                            • 26 Jun 2022

                            American Semicon company Micron has announced new card with 1,5 GB capacity

                              After 2019 Every single Phone manufacturer is going Backwards. People rely on Wifi way too much and everything is Stored in their "Clouds". Then there are the "Streaming" services which allow you to watch movies without downloading. And people are way too comfortable living such life. Constantly being under Wifi. Constantly being radiated by Internet connection.

                              Phones are Downgrading since 2019 as well. At least in terms of Flagship cathegory. Back in the days having large storaged showed manifacturers CARE for their customers. Apple was popular only in USA and West Europe where Wifi is everywhere. But in almost 80% of the World phones with large storage options helped a lot of people enjoy phones to the most.

                              These past 3 years have been just an otter disappointment one after another. Phone battery is getting worse or stagnating in place. More powerful chipsets are combined with same capacity batteries and only Quick Charges improved.

                              The Flagship Industry is Colapsing as a whole.
                              -Camera sensors are the same and many rely on the power of the Chipset to do it's bidding.
                              -SD cards are removed and people are FORCED to use and be under influence of Wifi constantly.
                              -Sound quality isn't improving. I see almost no difference between my Note 10 plus AND new S22 Ultra from a friend.
                              -Battery life is the same or little bit improved. Nothing gives EXCEPTIONAL results after 3 years.
                              - Storage options ARE THE SAME since 2019. 128 Gb is still present and many phone resellers don't even bother ordering 256/512 gb variants. Many shops around the world never sell 256 gb options and over 60 countries don't have good Online shopping services.
                              -Now you don't even get chargers in phones. No more Headphones either.
                              You pay 1000 $/€/£ for a barebone device. Unboxing feeling is par on par as horrible as iPhones.

                              This new generation of Tech "Enthusiasts" are becoming dumber and dumber each year. They support the constant use of Wifi. Use streaming services and thinik being Mindless Sheep of the Community makes then Unique and Special. This generation is a joke.

                              No one likes to spend 10 minutes organizing their storage nor pay attention. People are becoming studier and more reliant on Online Services to do the bidding for them.

                              SD cards were and are a thing for Intellectuals and people who don't require heavy reliance on the Internet. They don't use Horrible services from Spotify or Youtube being Flooded with ads and suffer. They are smart and download their songs. Enjoy life without paying anyone a monthly fee. They don't want to share their private photos with Google Photos or iCloud or whatevr nonsense is right now. Every company now goes into your private life and knows all your passwords, photos, everything about you.

                              People with LIMITED storage are becoming the PRODUCTS themselves.

                                Goodbye to the MicroSD slot, interest in it will continue to wane, especially with 512GB models and even 1TB models of phones coming in. 🙂

                                  I don't need storage as much as before because I store everything on Google Photos from my Pixel 3 and I use many streaming apps.

                                  For Android, I would need 128 GB minimum. On iOS, only 64 GB since I don't like how iPhone handles media. Most storage killers are video games. Photos are no longer stored on most of my phones. And I keep my videos like fav TV shows and movies to a minimum since I can always check them out on my Google Photos or Netflix, Tubi, Pluto TV, or Spectrum TV.

                                  I have 3 different Google Photos accounts and I can pretty much put all 2 TBs of my favorite TV shows and movies if I wanted to. It takes a long time but it's free. One of the big perks owning an older Pixel. I think the need of expandable storage is becoming less and less since most of us stream our music or TV shows. But would I still prefer microSD slot? Sure. Sony still offers it and headphone jack.

                                  People who want more storage are pack rats. Storing PS2 ROMs they don't even play. They just want to bring all their collection with them when most people are connected to the net to stream them if they want. My next phones will always be the lowest storage configuration as 128 GB is good enough for me. The storage is really catered for the apps. All my multimedia content can be streamed or viewed online.

                                    aaronwt, 26 Jun 2022An FM radio?!? Why the heck would I want to listen to terre... moreFM radio could be nice to have to receive emergency broadcasts when other infrastructure fails during a large scale disaster. For everyday use its value is indeed becoming limited, in part because even the stations themselves prefer people listening via dedicated apps (at least the bigger stations that have apps).

                                      Harvey L, 26 Jun 2022The article's conclusion that interest in expandable s... moreAn FM radio?!? Why the heck would I want to listen to terrestrial radio with commercials. The last thing I want is to listen to or see commercials. Even when my Galaxy S phones had an FM tuner, I never used them.

                                      Nor did I use the headphone jack. Since I have been using Bluetooth headphones for over a decade now. Using wired headphones would be akin to using a phone with a cable attached to it. I would never want to do it. Sure, it was fine in the 20th century. But not in the 21st century.

                                      And I have no desire to use a micro SD card. I hope I never have to use one ever again. It's much easier to just back things up to the cloud than to deal with a microSD card. Plus, Once I put my case on my cell phone, I don't want to remove it. Not until a year later when I trade in my Galaxy S phone for the next Galaxy S phone. So that is another reason I have no use for an SD card.

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                                        • Anonymous
                                        • n69
                                        • 26 Jun 2022

                                        If almost 40% still think a microSD card slot is vital, it's pretty dumb of manufacturers to abandon it. For me personally a missing microSD card slot is a total dealbreaker, probably half of the phones I considered buying were instantly ruled out because of this. With the headphone jack there was at least a little reason for removing it, to gain space for battery and water resistance. But with the microSD slot there is little to no reasoning for it, in the case of a hybrid slot there is pretty much no extra space required. All the arguments I've seen against microSD slots have been either extremely braindead or dumb marketing.
                                        For me the microSD card isn't just extra storage, it's also external and doesn't get wiped when the data partition is wiped, which isn't too rare with Custom ROMs and modding in general. Also, it's unencrypted, so it can be used from within Custom Recoveries to install Custom ROMs or flashable ZIPs in general.

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