When will many people have to make a difficult decision later this summer? Google is removing support for unlimited storage of Google Photos, but current Pixel owners aren’t one of them.
With the upcoming change to Google Photos, anyone with more than 15 GB of photos or videos will be forced to move their data elsewhere or pay Google for additional storage. In a recent update on Twitter, the project manager for Google Photos, Raja Ayygari, posted an update announcing that HQ uploads (images under 16MP) of “Pixels 2-5 will remain free and unlimited after June 1st.”
Essentially, that would mean that anyone who currently owns a Pixel phone (except Pixel 1 owners, RIP) could keep unlimited photo storage for the remaining life of their device. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like this luxury will extend to future devices, so anyone planning to buy a Pixel 5a or later isn’t going to be so lucky.
While the expansion of unlimited storage in Google Photos for Pixel owners may seem like a minor change, it’s a nice concession for folks who bought homegrown Google phones, given that unlimited photo storage was one of those devices’ original perks .
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Meanwhile, for non-Pixel owners who need to upgrade, Google recently added some additional editing functions to Google Photos for people paying for more storage space via Google Oneincluding Portrait Blur, Portrait Lighting, Dynamic Suggestions, and more.
Oh, and in case you decide to get tricky and try to fool Google into giving you free photo storage by buying an old Pixel and adding it to your account, that won’t work either, like Ayyagari noted that “uploads from other devices, including future pixels, will count towards your Google account storage.”
Plus, judging by the language in Ayyagari’s tweet, it doesn’t look like this bonus will ever return, so while the benefit was nice for a while, all good has to come to an end in the end.