Don’t splurge for a phone with more storage—there's a cheaper (and safer) way to future-proof

Published Jul 30, 2026, 5:30 PM EDT Joe Fedewa has been writing about technology for over a decade. Android and the rest of the Google ecosystem have been a focus for years, as well as reviewing devices, hosting podcasts, filming videos, and writing tutorials. Joe loves all things technology and is also an avid DIYer and food blogger. He has written thousands of articles, hundreds of tutorials, and dozens of reviews. Before joining How-To Geek, Joe worked at XDA-Developers as Managing Editor and covered news from the Google ecosystem. He got his start in the industry covering Windows Phone on a small blog, and later moved to Phandroid where he covered Android news, reviewed devices, wrote tutorials, created YouTube videos, and hosted a podcast. From smartphones to Bluetooth earbuds to Z-Wave switches, Joe is interested in all kinds of technology. After several years of jailbreaking and heavily modifying an iPod Touch, he moved on to his first smartphone, the HTC DROID Eris. He's been hooked ever since. Due to rising prices, people are using their phones for longer than ever. Future-proofing is now a major consideration, and that means opting for more storage. However, paying extra for more GBs may create more problems than it solves. It’s good that the days of phones having only 128GB of internal storage is finally fading, but the storage renaissance has coincided with rising prices across the board. On the surface, it seems like a smart choice to bite the bullet and pay more for extra storage. You won’t have to upgrade as soon, which will save more money in the long run. That may be true, but there are some things to consider before you do it. Let’s compare the numbers Credit: Cory Gunther / How-To Geek We all know prices are going up everywhere, but how much exactly has it impacted phones in terms of storage? Let’s compare a few popular Android phones in 2026 vs just two years ago in 2024. The Pixel 8 Pro was released in 2024 with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options. It started at $1,000, then an additional $60 for 256GB, another $60 on top of that for 512GB, and an extra $100 from there for 1TB—total price of $1,220. Fast forward to this year: The Pixel 11 Pro is expected to have a $100 price bump, but start at 256GB instead of 128GB. That would put it at only $40 more than the Pixel 8 Pro 256GB. However, the jump from 256GB to 512GB is rumored to be a whopping $120, and going up to 1TB could be an additional $230—total price of $1,450. It’s a similar story for Samsung Galaxy phones. The Galaxy S24 launched in 2024 at $800 for 128GB and an extra $60 for 256GB—no 512GB option. This year, the Galaxy S26 started at $900 for 256GB and $1,020 for 512GB. Like Google, it doubled the price jump. Is it wise to carry around so much personal content? Price isn’t the only concern Credit: Joe Fedewa / How-To Geek Now, price is obviously a big factor when it comes to buying a new phone. That’s especially true if you’re considering opting for extra storage. $1,450 for a Pixel 11 Pro with 1TB of storage is a lot of money for a regular ‘ol slab phone. There’s one other thing to think about, though. People who buy phones with extra storage generally aren’t using cloud storage as much—hence the need for more storage. So, while it’s great to be able to use the phone longer, it also means carrying around several years of personal content. You may not think of it this way, but in a very literal sense, we’re all walking around with hard drives in our pockets. Should anything happen to the phone, there’s potentially years' worth of personal data, photos, videos, and more that’s potentially inaccessible. Avoiding cloud storage out of concern for privacy sounds great until you’re stuck without a backup. It’s simply not a good idea to max out the storage and use your phone as your primary storage device. Treat your phone as temporary storage Cloud storage is not the answer That being said, I’m not advocating for cloud storage. I think it’s a perfectly justifiable position to prefer local storage. That’s how many people backup their computers, and there’s no reason you can’t do the same with your phone. Rather than splurge for a phone with more storage, put that extra money toward a USB-C flash drive or, even better, a portable SSD. Then, make it a habit to regularly move content from your phone to the storage device. This solves both of the problems I talked about above. First, it’s much cheaper than bumping up to a phone’s higher storage option. Samsung will charge you $120 for an extra 128GB on top of the base model, but you can snag a 128GB USB-C flash drive for less than $30. If money isn’t an issue, you could even put that $120 towards a 500GB SSD and portable USB-C enclosure. SanDisk 256GB iXpand Flash Drive Luxe Perfect for use with modern MacBooks or Windows laptops that only have USB-C, transfer files between your iPhone and computer with up to USB 3.0 speeds. Samsung 980 PRO 500GB PCIe NVMe Gen4 Internal Gaming SSD This cutting-edge SSD from Samsung can achieve 7GB/s of sequential read speed making it perfect for gaming and high-performance productivity work. I’ve included the SSD option because this isn’t just about saving money. As I said, it also encourages safe backup practices. You can keep personal content on your backup device, and it will work with any phone you use. Putting $120 toward a portable SSD will go much further than putting $120 toward a “better” phone, but the cheap USB-C flash drive is just as cool. On paper, it sounds like a great idea to pay extra now and be able to use a phone for years to come. But we can’t forget that phones travel everywhere with us, and that includes everything that’s stored on them. Make sure you have a good backup plan if anything should happen to it.