We made a list of the most affordable phones in the Philippines with 256GB storage a few days ago to prove that even budget phones should not scrimp on this part. Even at an under Php 10k price tag, we believe that consumers deserve to get a device that has AT LEAST 256GB storage. Yes, we believe that you should not buy a 128GB phone in the Philippines this 2024 (unless it offers MicroSD card expansion), and here’s our explanation of why 256GB storage in a phone is the new standard:

 

More affordable components

According to Counterpoint Research’s Market Pulse for February 2024 (subscription required), there’s a big increase in phones having 256GB storage in 2024 compared to 2023. The global market share for phones with 256GB storage is bigger than those with 128GB storage in 2024 compared to the previous year where the latter held the dominant market share.

A plausible explanation for this is that components are getting more affordable as technology continues to evolve. While the majority of under Php 10k phones with 256GB storage in the Philippines use the older eMMC 5.1 version, there are a few models that utilize the faster UFS 2.1 storage. The latter used to be expensive–but with UFS 3.1 and UFS 4.0 being used by flagship phones, prices of UFS 2.1 (and UFS 2.2) storage are becoming more affordable and accessible to budget phones.

 

App and Games are getting bigger

As apps get more features, this results in their file size becoming bigger than ever. Meta’s apps Facebook and Instagram, for example, eat up at least 1.5GB of storage, while Google Chrome can consume more than 2GB depending on your browsing habits. eCommerce apps like Lazada can eat up around 1GB of storage, and the same goes for Google Maps if you often use the app.

It gets wilder with games: take Genshin Impact for example, which consumes a whopping 31GB of storage with the latest update. Fellow Hoyoverse title Honkai: Star Rail is not far behind, as the current update consumes almost 20GB of storage. Even Mobile Legends would consume as much as 6GB of storage depending on your settings.

 

Higher Resolution Cameras = Bigger Image and Video Files

We’re not just talking about apps and games being bigger than ever: even image files taken by your phone’s camera are getting bigger as well. To give you an idea, photos taken using the realme C67‘s 108-megapixel camera can range anywhere between 3MB to 7MB per photo–and that’s using the default 12-megapixel mode. The Infinix NOTE 30 5G, which also uses the same sensor found on the C67–has image files ranging anywhere between 3MB to 7MB as well.

That’s just for photos: with videos, it gets bigger. For example, a 20-second footage shot in Full HD would be around 50MB, while shooting a 2-minute long video in 4K translates to a file size that’s around 750MB.  If you’re a content creator and shoot a lot of videos, 128GB is not going to get you far UNLESS you want to go into the hassle of dumping your files on an external drive.

 

Great for Future-Proofing

Given the current demands of users when it comes to media files, the apps they use, and the games they play, 256GB of storage is the sweet spot for us for all phones in 2024. While 8K video has yet to hit the mainstream, 256GB of storage is the ideal size especially if you want to shoot 4K videos or high-resolution photos often.

128GB storage has been the ideal for several years, and 2024 marks the year where consumers should settle for at least 256GB storage for all their needs. We think that 256GB storage will stay as the minimum standard for the next few years–and we will not be surprised to see more budget phones to get 512GB storage with components being more affordable.