Report: The average Android phone offered nearly 100GB storage in 2020

The average Android smartphone packed less internal storage than the average iPhone in 2020, according to a new report by Counterpoint.

The average Android smartphone held 95.7GB of internal storage compared to 140.9GB for iOS devices. With these two figures combined, 2020 marks the first time the average smartphone storage figure has crossed the 100GB mark.

While iPhones may continue to lead Android and other rivals in average storage capacity across its entire range, this spec isn’t a key purchasing factor for Apple users. iOS products only saw a 4.1% increase in average storage capacities over the course of 2020, much lower than the non-iOS growth rate of 21.7%.

Counterpoint attributes this average storage growth among non-iOS devices to the release of the 1TB Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus and 512GB Galaxy S20 Plus. While Android makers are pushing the limits of storage capacities in smartphones, Apple has largely settled on 512GB as its high-water mark. That particular storage option saw just a 3% demand in Q4 2020.

More storage in the mid-range

However, the benchmark storage capacity for Android and other non-iOS devices is steadily increasing. The proportion of devices with at least 128GB storage grew to just under 40% in Q4 2020 compared to 24.9% a year prior. Devices with more than 256GB of storage saw a demand of around 9.3% in Q4 2020, slightly lower than a year before.

According to this poll, Android Authority readers’ devices use on average between 64GB and 128GB of storage. Less than 6% of users use 256GB or more while nearly a third of all users use less than 64GB of storage.

Arguably, you can never have enough storage capacity in a smartphone or any tech product. As the price of NAND-based storage decreases, we should see the baseline storage figure steadily increase, too. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that flagships packed 16GB storage.

iPhones’ average storage capacities tend to jump after each new release, we can likely expect something similar when Apple debuts its new iPhone series later this year.

Does your Android smartphone have enough storage for your needs? Let us know by voting in the poll above. If your feelings are more nuanced, be sure to leave a comment down below.