iPhone SE (2022) storage: are 64GB enough? Are the 128 and 256GB models worth it?
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The iPhone SE (2022) is now official – same on the outside but supercharged on the inside with a new A15 Bionic chip and 5G support. Its biggest selling point, however, is shaping up to be the price – the new iPhone SE starts at just $429, making it the cheapest iPhone you can buy from Apple.
But there's a catch. The $429 starting price for the 3rd-generation iPhone SE is for the 64GB variant. Models with 128GB and 256GB of storage are also available – and perhaps they are the models you should consider getting instead. Or would a 64GB iPhone SE be enough for your needs? Allow us to help answer that question.
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The 2022 iPhone SE starts at $429 for the 64GB model. The 128GB variant costs $50 more, and the 256GB model is priced at $579. Since the operating system takes up about 10GB, the actual space you have available for your apps, games, photos and videos will be less. As always, iPhone storage cannot be expanded with a memory card, though there's always the option to offload some of your files to the cloud.
The short answer: yes, it is possible to survive with a 64GB iPhone SE if you're a casual user – the kind of user this phone is made for. 64 gigs are enough to comfortably hold an arsenal of popular apps, a small collection of mainstream games, and thousands of pictures.
Some challenges you might run into include storing lots of heavy games, as some titles eat up over a gig or two after they're installed. Storing offline shows and movies could also prove problematic, as an hour of Netflix HD video takes up about 1.5GB of space.
Absolutely! For just $50 extra, the 128GB iPhone SE gives you a lot more space – with peace of mind sprinkled on top – which makes it the variant we'd recommend to most people.
To put the numbers into context, a 128GB iPhone SE can comfortably hold 2000 songs, 10 hours of Netflix HD video, a dozen of heavy games, a bunch of popular apps, 10,000 of your photos, and a couple of hours of 4K video – with plenty of room to spare.
At $579, we don't see the 256GB iPhone SE flying off the shelves. It's nice having options, of course, but we'd say most people don't really need that much space on their phone.
Still, the 256GB iPhone SE variant could be of use to content creators who need a small, lightweight device that can shoot, store, edit, and upload 4K video. You'd have to shoot over 20 hours of 4K video to fill it up.
The 64GB iPhone SE is for light users: people who mostly use social media apps, don't play a lot of games, take a few photos every now and then and rarely shoot any video. If this is going to be your secondary/work phone or you're buying one for grandma, 64GB should be plenty.
The 128GB iPhone SE is the variant we'd recommend to most people. It can comfortably hold plenty of games, apps, and media – all while costing just $50 extra.
The 256GB iPhone SE is for digital hoarders, as well as for people who need to shoot, store, and manage large amounts of video.
But there's a catch. The $429 starting price for the 3rd-generation iPhone SE is for the 64GB variant. Models with 128GB and 256GB of storage are also available – and perhaps they are the models you should consider getting instead. Or would a 64GB iPhone SE be enough for your needs? Allow us to help answer that question.
iPhone SE (2022) storage options and what they cost
- 64GB iPhone SE: $429
- 128GB iPhone SE: $479
- 256GB iPhone SE: $579
The 2022 iPhone SE starts at $429 for the 64GB model. The 128GB variant costs $50 more, and the 256GB model is priced at $579. Since the operating system takes up about 10GB, the actual space you have available for your apps, games, photos and videos will be less. As always, iPhone storage cannot be expanded with a memory card, though there's always the option to offload some of your files to the cloud.
Are 64GB enough for the iPhone SE (2022)?
The short answer: yes, it is possible to survive with a 64GB iPhone SE if you're a casual user – the kind of user this phone is made for. 64 gigs are enough to comfortably hold an arsenal of popular apps, a small collection of mainstream games, and thousands of pictures.
What helps the iPhone SE is the range of optimizations build into iOS. For example, photos and videos are captured using high-efficiency codecs, allowing for better compression and up to 50% smaller files. Still, if you shoot a ton of video, a 64GB iPhone might not be for you.
Some challenges you might run into include storing lots of heavy games, as some titles eat up over a gig or two after they're installed. Storing offline shows and movies could also prove problematic, as an hour of Netflix HD video takes up about 1.5GB of space.
Is it worth getting a 128GB iPhone SE?
Absolutely! For just $50 extra, the 128GB iPhone SE gives you a lot more space – with peace of mind sprinkled on top – which makes it the variant we'd recommend to most people.
To put the numbers into context, a 128GB iPhone SE can comfortably hold 2000 songs, 10 hours of Netflix HD video, a dozen of heavy games, a bunch of popular apps, 10,000 of your photos, and a couple of hours of 4K video – with plenty of room to spare.
Is the 256GB iPhone SE worth it?
At $579, we don't see the 256GB iPhone SE flying off the shelves. It's nice having options, of course, but we'd say most people don't really need that much space on their phone.
Still, the 256GB iPhone SE variant could be of use to content creators who need a small, lightweight device that can shoot, store, edit, and upload 4K video. You'd have to shoot over 20 hours of 4K video to fill it up.
Conclusion: which iPhone SE storage option should I get: 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB?
The 64GB iPhone SE is for light users: people who mostly use social media apps, don't play a lot of games, take a few photos every now and then and rarely shoot any video. If this is going to be your secondary/work phone or you're buying one for grandma, 64GB should be plenty.
The 256GB iPhone SE is for digital hoarders, as well as for people who need to shoot, store, and manage large amounts of video.
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