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The iPhone SE is Apple's affordable smartphone option for 2020, and a successor to the popular 2016 budget iPhone of the same name. It comes in a compact size and packs the same chip and performance that you get on much more expensive flagship phones, along with one of the best cameras in that price range. It's an easy choice for most users, so long as they don't mind a smaller phone.
If you're interested in getting the iPhone SE, and are now trying to decide if the most affordable 64GB storage option would be enough for you, or you should instead consider the more expensive storage options, we're here to help.
How much free storage does the iPhone SE actually come with?
When you buy an Android smartphone or an iPhone, you don't actually get the exact amount of free storage as advertised out the box. A phone's operating system, core apps and other necessary data that cannot be removed take some of the phone's storage.
On the iPhone SE, the iOS operating system itself takes about 11GB of storage. So say you get the 64GB iPhone SE version – you'll actually be starting with around 49,6GB of free storage. In turn, if you get the 128GB or 256GB iPhone SE variants, you'll have about 117 or 245 gigabytes of free storage out the box respectively.
How much space do apps and games take on the iPhone SE?
How many apps can a 64GB iPhone SE hold?
Let's take a look at some of the more popular apps most people are likely to install, and see how much space they would take on your iPhone SE. YouTube takes about 193MB on this phone, while TikTok takes 214MB. Facebook Messenger takes a reasonable 42MB, while Facebook itself takes 246MB.
Let's say you prefer Gmail as your emailing app of choice – it would take another 273MB on the iPhone SE. WhatsApp adds another 69MB, and Zoom – around 58MB. Snapchat is 179MB, Netflix is 63MB, and Google Chrome takes up 81MB when first installed.
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Keep in mind that some of those apps gradually take up more space as you continue using them, as they will automatically store photos and other data locally on your iPhone SE. In any case, what we have so far amounts for at least 1,4GB of storage being taken up by those ten apps. Obviously, it depends on your usage, but the 64GB iPhone SE should comfortably be able to fit all of your necessary apps.
How many games can a 64GB iPhone SE hold?
As for games, they normally take a lot more space than the average app, with Minecraft being the exception, as it takes up 263MB. However, downloading Call of Duty: Mobile (2,64GB), PubG Mobile (2,43GB), Hearthstone (1,88GB), Pokemon GO (366MB), Clash Royale (130,6MB) and Fortnite (256,9MB) would eat up a significant amount of storage – 7,69GB in total. And if you're into console games on mobile, you may be interested to know that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas takes up 2,1GB of storage, while Max Payne Mobile eats up 1,8GB. In any case, the 64GB iPhone SE should be able to fit plenty of large games, and for most users – all the games they'd need.
Of course, the app Photos is what usually ends up taking the most storage on an iPhone, as the phone can quickly fill up with high-resolution photos and videos, so let's look at how much space those normally take up.
How much space do videos, photos, and music take up on the iPhone SE?
Videos
The iPhone SE's main camera can shoot 4K video at 30 frames-per-second (FPS) at best, while its default settings are HD at 30 FPS.
Capturing a 1-minute video in 4K at 30 FPS takes 350MB of storage on the iPhone SE.
Capturing a 1-minute video in HD at 60 FPS takes 175MB of storage on the iPhone SE.
Capturing a 1-minute video in HD at 30 FPS takes 130MB of storage on the iPhone SE.
Assuming that you're filming with the default settings, you can comfortably film videos amounting to 6 hours and 25 minutes before the 64GB iPhone SE fills up.
Photos
Photos from the main camera in the default 4:3 aspect ratio took up about 3,3MB on average in our usage, while selfies with the front camera are normally around 2MB. Although photos can vary in file size, we can reasonably expect that on the iPhone SE 64GB you can take up to 14,900 photos before running out of storage.
Music
Should you choose to keep any Apple Music tracks for offline use, each will take around 9.2MB of storage space. That means you can comfortably fit at least 6900 songs in 64GB of storage.
So, which iPhone SE model should I get: 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB?
The iPhone SE 64GB will come with about 49,6GB of free storage, which should be great for most people, as it's enough for taking at least 14,900 photos or holding thousands of songs. Additionally, most of the mainstream mobile games can comfortably fit in 49,6GB. So long as you restrict yourself from filming lots of videos in 4K resolution, and are prepared to occasionally go through the iPhone Storage menu and delete what's no longer needed, 64GB is a good enough option.
The iPhone SE 128GB is the perfect middle ground. The 128GB iPhone SE would actually come with about 117GB of free storage, which is enough for taking about 35,400 photos. This is the ideal storage option for those who feel like 64GB would be constricting, or plan on using this phone for many years to come.
The iPhone SE 256GB is obviously the best option, but unnecessary for most users, and arguably not worth the extra $100 for anyone but power users who are all about storing everything on-device. With this iPhone SE variant we get about 245GB of free storage out the box, which can hold around 74,000 photos or about 700 minutes of 4K video recordings. We recommend this option only if you plan on keeping this iPhone for as long as possible, and need to have all of your music, movies, photos and games directly on it, as opposed to relying on cloud or streaming services.
Rado, a tech enthusiast with a love for mobile devices, brings his passion for Android and iPadOS to PhoneArena. His tech journey began with MP3 players and has evolved to include tinkering with Android tablets and iPads, even running Linux and Windows 95 on them. Beyond tech, Rado is a published author, music producer, and PC game developer. His professional work on iPads, from producing songs to editing videos, showcases his belief in their capabilities. Rado looks forward to the future of mobile tech, particularly in augmented reality and multi-screen smartphones.
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