When choosing a new phone, the amount of internal storage space is one of the biggest factors influencing the decision to buy one phone over another. But how much of the promised 16, 32, or 64GB is actually available to use varies greatly from device to device.
What's in a smartphone?
When considering a phone’s memory specifications, it’s important to understand the difference between internal and external (or expandable) memory. Internal memory is the manufacturer-installed storage space—typically 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB—where the operating system, pre-installed apps, and other system software are installed.
The total amount of internal storage cannot be increased or decreased by the user, so if your phone only has 16GB of internal storage and no expansion slot, that's all the storage you'll ever have. And remember that some of this will already be taken up by the system software.
External or expandable storage refers to a removable microSD card or something similar. Many devices with a MicroSD card slot are sold with the card already installed. However, not all phones come with this extra storage included, and not all phones even have the ability to add external storage. For example, the iPhone has never given users the ability to add more storage by using an SD card, and neither do LG Nexus devices. If storage, for music, pictures, or other user-added files, is important to you, the ability to add another 32GB or even 64GB card fairly cheaply should be a major consideration.
