Many people will have to make a difficult decision later this summer when Google removes support for unlimited Google Photo storageS, but current pixel owners are not one of them.
With the upcoming Google Photos change, anyone with more than 15GB of photos or videos will be forced to move their data elsewhere or pay Google for extra storage. However, in a recent update on Twitter, project manager for Google Photos, Raja Ayygari, posted an update announcing that HQ uploads (images under 16 MP) in “Pixels 2-5 will continue to be free and unlimited after June 1”.
In essence, this would mean that anyone who owns a Pixel phone right now (except Pixel 1, RIP owners) could keep unlimited photo storage for the remaining life of their device. Unfortunately, it seems that this luxury will not extend to future devices, so anyone intending to buy a Pixel 5a or later will not be so lucky.
While expanding unlimited storage in Google Photos for pixel owners might seem like a small change, it’s a nice concession for people who have bought Google home phones, as unlimited photo storage was one of the original advantages of these devices.
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In the meantime, for non-Pixel owners who will need to upgrade, Google recently added some additional editing functions to Google Photos for people who pay for more storage through Google One, which includes Portrait Blur, Portrait Lighting, dynamic suggestions and more.
Oh, and if you decide to cheat and try to fool Google by giving you free storage for your photos, buying an old Pixel, and adding it to your account, it won’t work either, because Ayyagari has noted that “uploads from other devices, including future pixels, will count toward your Google Account storage. ”
Moreover, judging by the language in Ayyagari’s tweet, it doesn’t look like this bonus will ever come back, so while the advantage has been nice for a while, all that is good has to end in the end. .