{
  "id": 1598856,
  "title": "Stop paying for smartphone storage you don't need - here's a better approach",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/stop-paying-for-smartphone-storage-you-dont-need-heres-a-better",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-18T00:00:41.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "ZDNet",
    "slug": "zdnet",
    "url": "https://www.zdnet.com/article/stop-paying-for-smartphone-storage-you-dont-need/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Smartphones often come with limited storage, and manufacturers encourage users to pay for more space through cloud storage services. Many smartphones lack expandable storage options, leading consumers to feel pressured into purchasing higher storage capacity. The iPhone 17 Pro Max, for instance, offers four storage options: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB, with prices ranging from $1,199 to $1,999. To determine the true cost of storage, it's more productive to consider the marginal cost per gigabyte rather than the total price. For the 256GB model, the marginal cost is $0.78/GB, while for the 1TB and 2TB upgrades, it is $0.39/GB. This pricing structure highlights that every gigabyte of storage can cost close to a dollar's worth of space on your phone, even before considering cloud backup expenses. High-resolution photos and videos, as well as large apps, can consume significant amounts of storage space, making it essential to manage storage effectively. Removing unused apps and compressing media files can help free up valuable storage space.",
  "summary": "How to stop wasting money on storage: Think in dollars, not gigabytes.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}