iPhone 13 Storage: Which Size Should You Buy?

iPhone 13 Storage: Which Size Should You Buy? is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

Choosing the right iPhone 13 storage size can be tricky so we want to help you decide between Apple’s cheapest option, the middle options, and the most expensive version of the company’s flagship iPhones.

You might be tempted to buy the cheapest iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max, or iPhone 13 mini, or the model with the most storage. Many people will be perfectly fine with one of those. However, many others will want to buy something in-between.

One thing to remember is that you’ll probably end up paying for more storage one way or another. Either you’ll spend the money up front or you’ll wind up paying a monthly fee for additional storage via Apple’s iCloud service.

iPhone 13 Storage Options
iPhone 13 mini Storage Options
iPhone 13 Pro Storage Options
iPhone 13 Pro Max Storage Options
Pay for Storage Today or Pay Later
Who Should Buy 128GB iPhone 13?
Who Should Buy 256GB iPhone 13?
Who Should Buy 512GB iPhone 13?
Who Should Buy 1TB iPhone 13?
How to Check Your Current iPhone Storage

There are several factors to consider before you settle on one iPhone 13 storage size or another and we’ll break down all of the things you need to think about before you buy in this guide.

iPhone 13 Storage Options

Apple offers three iPhone 13 storage options at three different price points.

The iPhone 13 starts at 128GB, but the company also sells 256GB and 512GB options for people who want more space. The 128GB model is the cheapest option while the 512GB model is the most expensive.

Apple doesn’t offer a 64GB iPhone 13.

iPhone 13 mini Storage Options

The company’s smallest model, the iPhone 13 mini, also comes in three sizes: 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB.

iPhone 13 Pro Storage Options

As for the iPhone 13 Pro, there are four storage options, but they’re different than the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini options.

The iPhone 13 Pro starts at 128GB. From there, storage capacity goes up to 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. Yes, there’s a new 1TB option for power users.

iPhone 13 Pro Max Storage Options

The largest iPhone 13 model, the iPhone 13 Pro Max, comes in the same sizes as the iPhone 13 Pro: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.

Pay for Storage Today or Pay Later

You can add additional storage to some Android devices using external memory cards but the iPhone 13 series doesn’t have a microSD card slot. If you want to add additional storage to your iPhone 13, you’ll need to use iCloud or buy a Lightning-compatible drive.

If you plan to shoot 4K video on your iPhone, download movies or songs, or play games on your device, you’ll need quite a bit of storage space.

While 128GB or 256GB might seem like enough, there’s a chance your storage will fill up quickly. At that point you’ll be forced to continuously delete files you no longer need or pay for iCloud storage.

Fortunately, Apple’s iCloud storage is fairly inexpensive. You can get 50GB of cloud storage for a dollar a month. Here’s how the current pricing breaks down:

50GB: $0.99
200GB: $2.99
2TB: $9.99

Remember, you can also share iCloud storage with your family members.

Why You Should Buy a 128GB iPhone 13

The 128GB iPhone 13 models are the cheapest options and should be considered if you don’t think of yourself as a power user.

Here are a few reasons why you might want to buy a 128GB iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, or iPhone 13 Pro Max:

You stream most of your movies and music.
You don’t plan to shoot a lot of 4K video.
You plan to store your photos in iCloud Photo Library or on a computer.
You come nowhere close to using 128GB of storage on your current phone.

Why You Should Buy a 256GB iPhone 13

The 256GB option is the middle of the road choice for iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini users. It’s the second largest option for iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max buyers.

Here are some reasons why you should buy the 128GB iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, or iPhone 13 Pro Max:

You like to store some movies, photos, and music locally.
You plan to shoot some 4K video.
You plan to shoot 4K ProRes video.
You’re close to using 128GB of space on your current phone.
You hate having to occasionally manage the data on your phone.

We should note that Apple’s 4K ProRes video recording requires an ‌iPhone 13 Pro‌ or iPhone 13 Pro Max with at least 256GB of storage space.

iPhone 13 Pro‌ or ‌iPhone 13 Pro‌ Max models with 128GB of storage will be limited to shooting 1080p ProRes video at 30 frames-per-second.

The 256GB model is an excellent middle-of-the-road option that can work with or without iCloud.

Why You Should Buy a 512GB iPhone 13

Some of you might want to spend the extra money for the additional 256GB of space, even if it’s for the peace of mind that comes with having a bit more storage to play around with,

Here are a few reasons to buy the 512GB iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, or iPhone 13 Pro Max:

You like to store lots of movies and music locally.
You need or prefer to keep your photos stored locally.
You plan to shoot a lot of 4K content.
You plan to shoot 4K ProRes video.
You’re close to using 256GB of space on your current phone.
You can’t stand having to constantly manage the data on your phone.

Why You Should Buy the 1TB iPhone 13 Pro

The expensive 1TB iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max models are solid options for those that want a ton of local storage.

It should provide enough space for photography buffs, avid gamers, and those who plan to tackle school or work projects while on-the-go.

Unless you’re already using well over 512GB or don’t use the cloud, you probably don’t need this much storage. Here’s who we think should buy one of these models:

You’re an extreme power user.
You’re planning to use the iPhone as a professional creative.
You’re a photo buff who doesn’t want to use iCloud.
You’re someone who travels often and wants everything store locally.

How to Check Your Current Storage

Before you pick one of these, you should check your current storage because you’ll be able to gather some great insight into your habits. Here’s how to do this:

Tap on your Settings app.
Tap on General.
Tap on iPhone Storage.

This will show you how much free storage you currently have and how much you are using. It’ll also tell you exactly what’s taking up the most storage. For many of you, it’ll be photos and videos, apps, and messages.

If your current device is around a year old, you should still have around 50% of your storage left. If you are within 10-15% of its capacity, you probably need more storage.

If you’re using iCloud, you should also check on your iCloud storage usage:

Open Settings.
Tap on your Name at the top of the screen.
Tap on iCloud.

This screen shows your iCloud storage use and your current plan. If you tap on Manage Storage you’ll get a better breakdown of how you use cloud storage.

4 Reasons Not to Install iOS 15.2 & 11 Reasons You Should

Install iOS 15.2 for Better Security

1 / 15

If security is important to you, think about installing Apple's iOS 15.2 update right away.

Apple's iOS 15.2 update includes 30+ new security patches. You can read all about them over on the company's security site.

iOS 15.2 also includes some important upgrades to privacy. The software brings the company's App Privacy Report to your Settings. This lets you see how often your apps have accessed your location, photos, camera, microphone, contacts and more during the last seven days. You can also see their network activity.

In addition, you'll get Apple's communication safety features for kids. You'll find these features in the Messages app, in Siri, in Spotlight, and in Search.

If you missed iOS 15.1, iOS 15.2 will bring its security patches to your iPhone. You can read more about them on Apple's website.

If you missed iOS 15.0.2 you'll also get its security patch with your upgrade. You can learn more about it right here.

iOS 15.0 also brought numerous security patches to your iPhone. If you'll be moving up from iOS 14 and you're interested in the exact nature of these improvements, you can read about them over on Apple's security website.

If you skipped iOS 14.8 or any older versions of iOS, you'll get the security patches from those updates with your iOS 15.2 update as well.

In addition to those patches, iOS 15 comes with some security and privacy upgrades including improvements to Siri. Requests made to Siri are now processed on the device itself using Neural Engine. This makes it more secure.

If you're an Apple Card user, you'll now get a security code that changes regularly to use when you make online transactions.

Apple's also included a built-in authenticator that's similar to Google Authenticator. This will let you generate verification codes for enhanced sign-in security under your Passwords.

There's also a Mail feature that hides your IP address. The company will add a new App Privacy report feature in the next version of iOS 15 that will tell you when an app has accessed sensitive information.