the Samsung Galaxy S20 is the The current smartphone of the Korean giant and its three variants: the S20, S20 + and S20 Ultra offer storage options of 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB. The phones come with gorgeous AMOLED displays capable of 120Hz refresh rate, and solid cameras, performance, and battery life. If you are determined to buy a model in the S20 line, you might be wondering if the 128GB base storage option would be enough for you. Let’s find out!
How much free storage does the Galaxy S20 really come with?
You never get the exact amount of free storage on your smartphone as advertised. Your phone’s operating system and core (non-recoverable) apps will have taken up a bit of storage as soon as you turn it on the first time, and will need to stay there for it to work properly.
In the Galaxy S20, the Android operating system together with the software pre-installed by the potential operator can occupy more than 19 GB of storage. The exact number may vary and will increase over time as the phone is used, but out of the box, the storage taken by the system in a Galaxy S20 would normally be between 19GB and 29GB. It’s safe to assume that whatever storage option you choose, your phone will likely include at least 20GB less free storage than advertised. With this in mind, its 128GB Galaxy S20 variant is likely to come with roughly 108GB or less of free storage, while the 256GB and 512GB variants, with roughly 236GB and 492GB respectively.
How much space do apps and games take up on the Galaxy S20?
How many apps can a 128GB Galaxy S20 hold?
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular apps that most people are likely to install, and see how much space they would take up on your Galaxy S20. YouTube takes up about 110 MB of storage, while TikTok takes up 61 MB. Facebook occupies about 42 MB, while Messenger, another 38 MB. WhatsApp only needs 22 MB, Zoom: 31 MB, Snapchat: 55 MB and Netflix, approximately 15 MB when it is installed for the first time.
While those are painstaking numbers that won’t affect your 128GB of storage, keep in mind that some of those apps gradually take up more space as you continue to use them as they will automatically store photos, videos, and other data locally on your Galaxy S20. In any case, what we have so far equates to about 374 MB of storage, representing just 0.37 GB. Obviously, it depends on its use, but even the 128GB Samsung Galaxy S20 should be able to easily adapt to all the applications it would ever need.
How many games can a 128GB Galaxy S20 hold?
Understandably, games require more storage than the average app, as they often contain a lot of music, sounds, high-resolution images, and other large data. Minecraft is an exception, as it only requires less than 100 MB, while Call of Duty: Mobile will take around 2 GB of storage, PubG Mobile – another 1.6 GB, Blizzard’s Hearthstone – 45 MB in download and approximately 1.3 GB after installation, Pokemon GO – approximately 330MB. If you also want some console games on your phone, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas requires 2.4 GB of storage, while Max Payne Mobile: 1.1 GB. Even if you download all of that, it amounts to 8.83GB, so the Galaxy S20 128GB basic option should be more than enough for all your favorite games.
How much space do videos, photos and music take up on the Galaxy S20?
Videos
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra has a 108MP main camera, while the S20 and S20 + have 12MP. The average person is likely to record videos at the most common 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second (FPS), which is equivalent to taking around 1.75 megabytes per second of recording.
With that in mind, even the 128GB Galaxy S20 has enough storage for 1,200 minutes or 20 hours of video recording, more than most people would film over the lifetime of a phone. Of course, advanced users who want to shoot at 4K 60FPS will be able to adjust less camera footage, just over 240 minutes or 4 hours before the phone fills up. This is still a solid amount of clips, and it’s quite likely even for YouTubers and professional vloggers, who don’t mind backing up or deleting older videos once every few months.
Photos
A photo taken with any of the Samsung Galaxy S20 variants will generally be between 3 and 6 megabytes in size. Most of the photos in our use were close to 4MB, so considering that number, you can comfortably take up to 31,900 photos on the base 128GB model before it fills up. In turn, the 256GB Galaxy S20 will fit up to 63,900 photos, and the 512GB model will fit up to 127,900 photos. You can choose to take photos with a higher or lower resolution than the default, but even so, the base Galaxy S20 should have enough storage for the average user’s photo needs, at least for a couple of years.
Music
Some people like to save their music to the device, instead of streaming it, so it can be enjoyed offline. Since songs can vary greatly in length and quality, therefore in file size, we’ll use an average as an example: a high-quality 320mbps song 4 minutes away from Spotify, 9.6 megabytes in size. More than 13,300 songs of this type can fit in the basic 128GB Galaxy S20 variant. Respectively, more than 26,600 and 53,300 high quality MP3 songs can fit on Galaxy S20 256GB and 512GB models.
So which Samsung Galaxy S20 model should you get: 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB?
The Galaxy S20 128GB you already have enough storage for most users. 128 gigabytes is more than enough for all your apps and games, and you can record up to 20 hours of video clips before it fills up. Even if you plan to keep your phone for the next 3-4 years, you are unlikely to have to worry about storage during that period. Opting for this option instead of the more expensive ones is probably the best option, as long as you don’t plan on always shooting the highest resolution videos possible, or building a large library of offline movies and music on your phone.
The Galaxy S20 256GB It is a sweet average option, but unnecessary for almost anyone. Advanced users would probably go for the 512GB option, while the average user should be more than comfortable with 128GB. Regardless, having 256GB of storage on your phone means you can easily store all your favorite movies, music, and everything else on it, and comfortably use your S20 for at least 4-5 years before it’s time to upgrade or start free up storage.
The Galaxy S20 512GB It’s overkill for most people, but it’s a great option for power users who plan to constantly record videos in 4K or even 8K. 512GB is more than enough even for the average laptop user, so on a phone, you really should have a plan for all that storage to justify the price it will cost you. If you are not sure, the above two options will probably best suit your needs.
Does the Galaxy S20 have a microSD card?
Yes, all Galaxy S20 models except the limited edition Verizon S20 5G UW have a microSD card slot and support microSD cards up to 1 terabyte, which equals 1000 gigabytes! So even if you don’t know if the Galaxy S20 128GB option will be enough for you, you’ll be happy to know that you can always extend that storage via a microSD card.
Where can I buy the Samsung Galaxy S20?
Buy Samsung Galaxy S20 from:
Buy Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus from:
