How much phone memory do I want for my new phone (iPhone 13 mini)?

November 25, 2022 10:42 AM

I'm deciding between 256 GB and 512 GB. I hope to keep the phone for 4+ years. It looks like this will be Apple's last mini phone for the foreseeable future, so I want to use it as long as possible, and don't want the memory to be the sticking point.

- I do take a fair amount of pictures
- I take almost no videos.
- I do have a fair amount of apps currently
- I'll likely be doing an advanced degree in a couple of years, so I might need (memory-heavy?) apps on my phone for that.

Is 256 GB enough or do I need 512 GB? The price difference is $200.

posted by ClaireBear to Technology (18 answers total)

How much have you used on your current phone?
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 10:53 AM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I currently have 128 GB, and it's been fine (I think I've used 80 GB, although I could be misremembering). I just wonder whether my needs might increase and/or whether apps and photos will increasingly use more memory as technology progresses (I don't know how these things work)...
posted by ClaireBear at 11:02 AM on November 25, 2022

One issue I have found recently is that I have a lot of storage used up by photos that are messaged to me. If you’re really trying to stick with it for the long haul, I would get the largest storage just to be sure.
posted by Night_owl at 11:33 AM on November 25, 2022 [4 favorites]

$200 over 4 years is like a dollar a week.

If you know you want to use it as long as possible, I'd probably get the 512gb one.
posted by box at 12:00 PM on November 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Get more memory - you can’t add more retroactively and the phone runs better the more memory is free.
posted by Bottlecap at 12:16 PM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

Another vote for 512Gb. I was frugal with my previous iPhone, thinking that 64Gb would carry me over for another 5 year period. I tapped out after 2 years because it was very much not enough. The accumulation of my new photos, photos acquired through a lot more family texting, a plethora of podcasts, etc. meant that I was constantly figuring out what to delete in order to download an iOS update or let my phone do everyday stuff without whimpering.

I now have a 512Gb iPhone 13 mini (*waves with small hands*) and I'm very happy with it.

Go big now with your mini, and it will save you money and stress later.
posted by maudlin at 12:22 PM on November 25, 2022

Generally I think people overestimate how much storage they need on phones. The recent and ongoing movement to the cloud (e.g. iCloud Photos) has significantly reduced the rate at which the average user's storage needs grow. And the price of underestimating is that you trade in your old phone for the same phone with a faster processer, better camera and more storage. 256 GB is a lot for someone who has never used more than 80 GB, even for a phone they plan to use for 4+ years.

However! You're buying an iPhone mini. You're presumably doing this because you want a small phone. This changes things, because it seems very likely that the 13 mini will be the last iPhone mini that Apple makes, and will not be available in a year's time. The price of underestimating storage needs in this situation is that you have to trade in your mini for a physically larger phone you don't want.

tl;dr get 512 GB.
posted by caek at 1:13 PM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

I don't know if Apple's iCloud storage pricing is the same or not, but looking at it purely financially, $200 for an extra 128GB of local storage would cost more than four years of buying 100GB of cloud storage from Google even if you needed the extra space from day one, which you won't. The driver for your storage needs is going to be media, not apps. They're just not that big compared to a pile of photos and videos.

Personally, I'd get the 256GB version and save the money.
posted by wierdo at 1:49 PM on November 25, 2022

I don't think you need to splurge on the 512 GB. Photos aren't actually getting any bigger - the megapixel wars are over, and iPhone cameras have been stuck at 12 MP for many years now. Software is increasingly not stored locally but all streamed from the cloud (not your cloud).

I don't know what kind of work you anticipate doing, but a phone - especially an abnormally small one, even in 2022 - is not likely to be a great tool. That $200 realistically could be used for a lower-quality tablet or chromebook when the need comes, which would be far more productive.
posted by meowzilla at 2:55 PM on November 25, 2022 [3 favorites]

I don't think you're going to even come CLOSE to using up 256 GB, let alone 512. Like I use my phone in similar ways to you and always go 4ish years between upgrades, and have never been remotely at risk of approaching the memory limit. The new phone is not likely to change your memory usage ways substantially so I would save the money without a second thought.
posted by anderjen at 4:31 PM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

aw crap are they discontinuing the SE? They just released the se 2022 (3rd gen) this year. Same processor as the 13. Camera is still old vs 13, but I dig it. It is small and still amazingly does *not* have face id, yay! : ) But it maxes at 256. Technically it is a big bigger than the mini 'cause the home button.

Anyway I consider it 'mini' and if $$ is a factor, is a lot less. Really it's whether one needs the most current camera or not.
posted by bitterkitten at 5:10 PM on November 25, 2022

I'm confident I have more photos on my phone than you do, I also keep phones for years, I have lots of apps, and if I were to get one today I would go with 256 GB. Apple is good about letting you keep a fairly light footprint on your actual phone and backup stuff to the cloud.
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:08 PM on November 25, 2022

I have never been unhappy or had to waste a lot of time because my phone had too much memory. I have repeatedly been unhappy and have had to waste a lot of time because my phone did not have enough memory.

That said, I’d suggest you go to Settings / General / iPhone Storage and see how you are currently using memory. If you expect your usage patterns to continue, you can extrapolate from that.

Still, it’s hard to see how you’d be unhappy with the 512GB device.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 6:30 PM on November 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

You won’t approach 256 with photos and apps.
Videos are where you’d possibly need 512, and you’ve said you don’t do much video.
I suggest you save your cash.
posted by artdrectr at 7:24 PM on November 25, 2022

I was forced to buy a new iPhone this year because the previous one had insufficient memory to update the OS (no matter what I deleted/moved to the cloud). If you want to keep using your mini for as long as possible and can afford the 200 dollars, I would get the 512 GB (that's what I opted for with my new phone).
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 5:14 AM on November 26, 2022

Photos aren't actually getting any bigger - the megapixel wars are over, and iPhone cameras have been stuck at 12 MP for many years now.

iPhones default to Live Photos. Cynically, I figure that's to use up more memory so you need a more expensive iPhone and/or iCloud subscription. If you have any concern about using up your memory and you don't need your photos to be mini videos, switch that default.
posted by daisyace at 5:02 PM on November 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Photos aren't actually getting any bigger - the megapixel wars are over, and iPhone cameras have been stuck at 12 MP for many years now.

The iPhone 14 and 14 Pro have 48 MP cameras that get downsampled to 12 MP by default, but can shoot in ProRAW mode which gives a 48 MP image that takes up about 75MB of space.
posted by caek at 4:43 PM on November 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Another vote for the 512 GB model. I have used my phone in the same way for years, and even with Cloud Photos turned on, I find I use more memory on each phone than I did with its predecessor. I always second-guess myself and feel a bit silly for choosing the model that has the most memory; and a couple of years down the line, I'm always glad I made that choice.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 2:59 AM on November 29, 2022 [1 favorite]