After the massive success of the iPhone XR last year, Apple is out with the iPhone 11 this time around. The phone builds on the iPhone XR and improves in all the key areas: performance, camera, battery life. Like last year, Apple is offering the iPhone 11 in three different storage capacities. If you are confused as to which storage variant you should pick up, follow this guide.
Picking the right storage variant is important because you definitely don’t want to spend extra money on storage space you are never going to use. Similarly, you also don’t want to cheap out on it as in the long term, it will come to bite you back.
Which iPhone 11 Storage Capacity Should You Buy?
iPhone 11 – Capacity and Pricing
First, below is a quick rundown of the pricing of the iPhone 11 for different storage tiers.
- 64GB – $699
- 128GB – $749
- 256GB – $849
The good thing this time around is that Apple has dropped the price of the iPhone 11. So you can get the 64GB for $699 and the 128GB variant for $749 — the same price as the 64GB iPhone XR. In case you were planning on buying the iPhone XR and decided to wait it out, you are already getting a better bang for the buck in terms of storage.
General Storage Guidelines
If you’re the kind of person who likes to keep their entire music library offline on their iPhones or you download a lot of movies or apps, it’s best if you don’t skimp on your storage. If you like to keep your entire photo library available offline on the device, it’s best if you go for the largest possible storage capacity.
On the other hand, if you use music streaming services, stream movies and TV shows exclusively and you back up all photos and videos to iCloud Photo Library, you might just get away with the lowest storage tier. But even then, you should be prepared when you hit the wall. You’ll need to delete apps and back up photos actively to make sure there’s enough storage space available.
Who Should Buy the 64GB iPhone 11?
The base 64GB storage of the iPhone 11 is going to be enough for most consumers out there. If you only have around ~100 apps installed on your devices and keep a few hundred photos, the 64GB variant is good enough for your needs. Remember that unlike Android smartphones, iPhones store photos and videos in HEIF and HEVC formats which take up significantly lesser space than regular JPEG and video files. Plus, there are plenty of space-saving features in iOS 13 that can be used to automatically free up internal storage.
If you are fine with having around 10-11GB of free internal space on your iPhone 11, go ahead and buy the 64GB version. The money saved can be spent on AppleCare+, case, and other accessories for the device.
Before you pull the trigger though: ask yourself how long do you plan to keep using your iPhone 11 and the storage space free on your current device. If right at the end of day 1, you will be left with around 10GB of free space on your iPhone 11, you should consider buying the 128GB variant. The price of that version further acts as a cherry on top.
Who Should Buy the 128GB iPhone 11?
If you plan on using your iPhone 11 for at least 2-3 years, I will strongly recommend you to buy the 128GB variant. This is because over time you will end up storing a lot of unused files, photos, apps, and videos which will take up precious storage space on your device. Plus, over time your storage requirements are only going to increase with iOS, apps, and games themselves getting heavier.
What seals the deal for the 128GB iPhone 11 is that you are only paying a $50 premium for it over the 64GB variant. At $749 for the 128GB iPhone 11, it makes little sense to buy the 64GB variant of the device for $699. Plus, if you were already looking to buy the iPhone 11, Apple has reduced the pricing of the iPhone 11 this time around. Don’t save that $50, instead get the 128GB version. You will thank yourself a year or two down the line.
Who Should Buy the 256GB iPhone 11?
Unless you are someone who likes to carry around their entire library of FLAC music or have tons of Netflix content downloaded for offline viewing, there really is no need for you to buy the 256GB iPhone XR. While the jump from 64GB to 128GB storage is priced at $50 premium, the jump to 256GB has a $100 premium to it. This means the iPhone 11 with 256GB storage will cost you $849 — that’s still lower by $50 for what Apple charged for the 256GB iPhone XR though.
If you are really interested in buying the 256GB variant of the iPhone 11, well you already know you have a use case for it which is why you are looking at buying it in the first place.
Free Apple TV+ Subscription
The good thing is that Apple is giving free Apple TV+ subscription for one year with every iPhone 11 purchase. If you intend to subscribe to the service, this translates into another $60 in savings if you live in the United States. Considering that, you can use the money saved towards upgrading to a higher storage variant of the iPhone 11.
Which iPhone 11 Storage Capacity Will You Buy?
Are you planning to buy the iPhone 11? If so, which storage variant are you planning on buying? If this guide helped you make up your mind, drop a comment and let us know!
Buy iPhone 11
You can buy the iPhone 11 from any of the following retailers and carriers below:
