The iPhone 16 Pro Max is here, and Apple’s tier pricing makes the storage decision genuinely painful. £200 separates 256GB from 1TB — and unless you actually use the space, that’s £200 you’re handing Apple for nothing. Below: real-world storage numbers, a comparison table, and a one-line answer for each type of user.

iPhone 16 Pro Max Storage: At a Glance

Note: 128GB has been discontinued on the Pro Max line — the entry-level is now 256GB.

How Much Space Things Actually Use

iOS itself takes around 12GB out of the box. After that, here’s the real-world maths most people don’t think about:

• One photo (HEIC, default): ~3MB → 1GB holds ~330 photos
• One photo (ProRAW): ~75MB → 1GB holds ~13 photos
• One minute of 4K 60fps video: ~440MB → 1GB holds ~2 minutes
• One minute of ProRes 4K: ~6GB → 1GB holds 10 seconds
• An average app: 100–300MB
• A heavy 3D game: 5–10GB (Genshin Impact: 20GB+)
• An offline Netflix episode: ~500MB
• A 90-min offline film (HD): ~2GB

The trap most users fall into is 4K 60fps video. A single five-minute clip is over 2GB — film a kid’s birthday party and you’ve eaten 20GB before you’ve left the house. If you record video regularly, 256GB will fill up faster than you think.

Which Size Should You Actually Buy?

Buy 256GB if:

• You take photos casually (under 30 a day) and rarely shoot 4K video
• You stream music and video rather than downloading offline
• You back up photos to iCloud or Google Photos automatically
• You’ve never seen a “Storage Full” notification on your current phone

Buy 512GB if:

• You shoot 4K video weekly (kids, holidays, content)
• You travel and download offline maps, films, podcasts in bulk
• You play 2–3 large games at once
• You’ve hit storage warnings on your current phone

Buy 1TB if:

• You shoot ProRes or ProRAW (those formats demand it)
• You’re a content creator using the phone as your primary camera
• You record long-form 4K video (vlogs, weddings, events)
• You don’t want to think about storage for the next 4 years

The Cloud-Storage Workaround

If you’d rather save the £200 and lean on cloud storage, here’s the maths:

• iCloud+ 200GB: £2.99/month (£36/year)
• iCloud+ 2TB: £8.99/month (£108/year)
• Google One 2TB: £7.99/month (£96/year)

The 256GB Pro Max plus iCloud 200GB gives you effectively 456GB of usable space for £36/year — a four-year run costs £144 in cloud, vs the £200 one-time hit for the 512GB phone. Cloud wins on cost; the local-storage tier wins on convenience and offline access. There’s no objectively right answer, just the one that fits how you use a phone.

Damaged Your iPhone 16 Pro Max?

If you’ve already got the phone and it needs a screen, battery, charging port or back glass repair, we cover it same-day at our Golders Green workshop. See pricing on the iPhone 16 Pro Max repair page, or browse the full iPhone repair lineup. Every job comes with a 12-month warranty.