Recognition: Adam Molina / Android Authority
- The average storage capacity of smartphones exceeded the 100 GB mark for the first time in 2020.
- Apple products continue to lead the way in Android and other non-iOS smartphones.
According to a new report from Counterpoint, the average Android smartphone packed less internal storage than the average iPhone in 2020.
The average Android smartphone had 95.7 GB of internal storage compared to 140.9 GB for iOS devices. With those two numbers, 2020 will be the first time the average storage space for smartphones will exceed 100GB.
While iPhones can continue to lead Android and other competitors in terms of average storage capacity across the range, that spec isn’t a major buying factor for Apple users. For iOS products, the average storage capacity increased by only 4.1% over the course of 2020 and was thus far below the growth rate of 21.7% without iOS.
Counterpoint attributes this average storage growth for non-iOS devices to the release of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus with 1 TB and the Galaxy S20 Plus with 512 GB. While Android manufacturers are pushing the limits of storage capacities in smartphones, Apple has largely opted for 512 GB as the high water mark. This particular storage option saw only 3% demand in the fourth quarter of 2020.
More storage space in the middle area
However, the benchmark storage capacity for Android and other non-iOS devices is steadily increasing. The proportion of devices with at least 128 GB of storage increased to almost 40% in the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to 24.9% in the previous year. Devices with more than 256 GB of storage saw demand of around 9.3% in the fourth quarter of 2020, slightly less than a year earlier.
According to this survey Android Authority Readers use an average of between 64 GB and 128 GB of memory. Less than 6% of users use 256 GB or more, while almost a third of all users use less than 64 GB of storage.
You can probably never have enough storage capacity in a smartphone or a technical product. As the price of NAND-based memory is falling, the base memory should also increase steadily. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that flagships packed 16 GB of storage space.
The average storage capacity of iPhones tends to increase with each new version. We can probably expect something similar when Apple launches its new line of iPhones later this year.
Does your Android smartphone have enough storage space for your needs? Let us know by voting in the poll above. If your feelings are more nuanced, leave a comment below.