Google Pixel users / potential buyers: Important changes on Google Photos unlimited FREE storage you should know
- Google made changes to Google Photos policy back in Nov 2020
- See on the table below how it impacts you as Google Pixel owners / potential buyers
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One of the benefits and one of the most sought features of buying and owning a Google Pixel phones is the capability to take photos and videos as many as you like without worrying the storage, that’s because Google is giving unlimited FREE storage for any photos and videos taken by Google Pixel phones to Google Photos – Google cloud storage for everything photos and videos.
But since November 2020, Google announced and has made some changes to its Google Photos’ unlimited free storage policy. The changes are impacting everyone – including you who are using Google Pixel phones.
So, without further ado, here are the important changes you should know as Google Pixel phone owners or potential buyers.
Google Photos: Original Quality vs High Quality
Before the important changes, you should first know the differences between original quality vs high quality so that you can make better informed decision.
Original Quality: All photos and videos are stored in the same resolution that you took them. Recommended for photos that have more than 16MP and videos with more than 1080p.
High Quality: Photos are compressed to save space. If a photo is larger than 16MP, it will be resized to 16MP. Videos higher than 1080p will be resized to high-definition 1080p. A video with 1080p or less will look close to the original. Some information, like closed captions, might be lost.
Google Pixel: Important Changes to Google Photos‘ Unlimited FREE Storage
There are so far 7 generations of Google Pixel phones, starting with the original Google Pixel and Pixel XL back in 2016.
| Google Pixel Model | Original Quality | High Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Google Pixel / XL | Unlimited FREE Storage | NA |
| Google Pixel 2 / 2 XL | Unlimited FREE Storage until 16 Jan 2021 | Unlimited FREE Storage |
| Google Pixel 3 / 3 XL | Unlimited FREE Storage until 31 Jan 2022 | Unlimited FREE Storage |
| Google Pixel 3a / 3a XL | Count towards your Google Account Storage | Unlimited FREE Storage |
| Google Pixel 4 / 4 XL | Count towards your Google Account Storage | Unlimited FREE Storage |
| Google Pixel 4a | Count towards your Google Account Storage | Unlimited FREE Storage |
| Google Pixel 5 | Count towards your Google Account Storage | Unlimited FREE Storage |
“Count towards your Google Account Storage” means any photos or videos uploaded, will eat up your account storage.
For your information, each Google Account (E.g.: Your Gmail account) comes with 15GB of FREE storage.
Google Pixel users & potential buyers, so how?
To owners of Google Pixel 3 and before, you can still enjoy unlimited free storage for original photos until the specified time. While after the specified time and for the rest of Google Pixel phone series, there’s still unlimited free storage for photos and videos uploaded in high quality mode.
For me personally, Google Photos’ High Quality mode is still considered ok and even still more than good enough – where photos uploaded each can have size of max 16MB and videos uploaded each can have resolution up to 1080p.
What about you? Do you take / plan to take photos and/or videos bigger than what Google Photos’ High Quality mode offers?
For potential Google Pixel phone buyers, are you buying the Google Pixel phone?
Do give your comments and thoughts down below on the comment section.
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