iPhone 12 Storage Dilema: Local VS Cloud

[virnew]

Hey there,

I'm trying to make a decision regarding storage for my next iPhone.
Here are some notes I have. Let me know what you chose and why.

Local Storage
Pros
- Faster Data Access
- No connection required
- Access to data in no coverage
- No Battery Drain
- No Data Plan Consumption (this has become less of a problem with unlimited plans)

Cons
- More Expensive
- Data can be extracted

Cloud
Pros
- Cheaper
- Greater amounts of data accessible
- Only cached data can be accessed and extracted

Cons
- Slower depending on the connection
- No connection required
- No Access to data in no coverage
- Battery Drain
- Data Plan Consumption (this has become less of a problem with unlimited plans)
- Concerns over privacy an ownership of the dats

 

[ZBoater]

Local because you never know what kind of connection you may have. So 512GB for me.

 

[mailman199]

Local is always better imho. I do cloud but always keep a local copy.

 

[beach bum]

Local. I never liked the idea of not having immediate access to my content.

 

[Supermallet]

Local for critical items, cloud for non-critical items. I went with 128 GB which should be sufficient. I'm not going to put my entire music library on my phone for example.

As 5G becomes more ubiquitous and carriers optimize their networks, some of the current pain points of cloud storage will be reduced or removed.

 

[Paco II]

Same for me.

To the OP, if you have genuine concerns around privacy, use a service like Sync or similar that has true end to end encryption.

Local for critical items, cloud for non-critical items. I went with 128 GB which should be sufficient. I'm not going to put my entire music library on my phone for example.

As 5G becomes more ubiquitous and carriers optimize their networks, some of the current pain points of cloud storage will be reduced or removed.

 

[PhoenixDown]

I usually look at how much storage I'm using on my current phone and then weigh that in against whats offered on the new models. I typically try to use the cloud as much as possible but downloading semi-frequently used apps can kind of suck. Definitely a middle ground to be found for sure.

 

[Robbosan]

If you are only using 20gb now with iCloud 2TB, is there any point going to 128gb? I have 140gb photos/videos i can store on my 256gb now with 90gb free but that will go over sooner or later and i would need 512gb. I have all the apps i need, don't save many messages/emails etc.