Why storage capacity is keeping pace with each new smartphone
The yardstick for any smartphone performance is typically its speed, pixel count, camera quality and battery durability. But the unsung innovation is the storage size.
Smartphones have evolved from a communication tool to a device that does everything from banking to entertainment to ordering lunch to locating places to hailing a taxi to a personal assistant, and to about everything else we are yet to explore.
And smartphone users now want a mobile device that has the ability to quickly take and upload photos while in a party, verify owner identity by fingerprint or facial recognition and even pay for that lunch while at the same time streaming the latest movie in town.
So where is the secret to achieving all these found? The size of storage could be the difference between enjoying that digital life, with just a few taps or having to put up with a hanging device.
This partly explains why storage size is quickly gaining traction as one of the essential features that smartphones compete on. And it has more reasons than just storing those photos or videos.
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But even if it was just about storing photos, videos and texts, users are desiring handsets that can collect and store an increasing amount of data much faster than before and without being told they have run out of space.
This is why premium segment of Android phones such as Tecno’s 256 gigabytes Phantom X2 series are competing on the ubiquity of high-resolution videos, faster wireless connectivity speeds and better cameras.
The phone, introduced in the Kenyan market mid-January, comes with capabilities of 5G network and with a retractable portrait lens, in response to the growing high end device users who are demanding super speeds.
But to deliver on all these, storage size is the often-unsung innovation that rises to the occasion by powering the speed and form factor—the overall design and functionality – of these devices.
But why does storage capacity matter? It is partly because it is no longer about the number of apps one can have on their phones, but the number of apps that can run concurrently.
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The rapidly rising storage capacities in Android smartphones such as Tecno, one of the most popular brands in Kenya, confirms that the search for more storage is not about to stop.
With the world just scratching the surface on 5G that promises super speeds, there will certainly be new apps that we haven’t thought of and this means storage will continue being at the centre of anything else the smartphone is going to evolve into.
If you are into hoarding media files, paying resource-intensive games or creating image or video content online a storage capacity of 256GB, 512GB or even a whooping one terabyte may be what will rise to the occasion.
Storages of 256GB and above means brands such as Tecno’s sub-brand, Phantom, is matching many models of laptops and tablet computers with just a pocket-sized device.
The smartphones of the future could have capabilities such as responding to hand gestures, over-the-air wireless charging, liquid buttons, virtual reality or not requiring SIM cards but storage will play an essential role if this is to become a reality.
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The author is the Tecno Mobile Product Manager East African Market
dickson.ireri@tecno-mobile.com