Hi, I have an iPhone XS 64GB with about 20 GB used, will likely not use more. Have a good offer to replace this XS with an XS 256 GB. Any point in replacing? Could I experience better performance? Plan to have the phone at least until new models are out late 2020.
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iPhone XS iPhone XS 64GB or 256GB?
- Thread starter pacpac2017
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More storage won't affect performance in any way except you have 63 of 64 GB used. No sense.
I believe the write speeds are somewhat improved with the higher storage models, but in terms of performance, no, it’s the same A12 processor in both models. Unless you feel that you would need additional storage or this phone is in better condition than your own you’re currently using, then I don’t see why you would want this phone.
None at all. I'm confused why you are even asking the question as the answer is so obvious.
Yes, there is a higher resale value for the larger stores models, but the caveat being those are also sometimes the most difficult to sell, because not everyone wants that amount of storage for what someone will charge for that price on the used market.
When I bought my X, I went with the 256 because there wasn't a 128GB model available. I don't stream music, keeping my music library on the phone. I am currently using 114GB (I must have selected something in iTunes, since I see just now I'm using 14GB for podcasts I don't listen to 
Hi, I decided to replace the XS 64GB with a 256GB, and have used it for a bit more than a week. I must say, this version does seem to be somewhat faster, more fluid, and probably what I experience the most, actions on the phone are more consistent, meaning input actions and subsequent response appear to be of the similar speed and fluidity, whilst on the 64GB model some actions/responses appeared to be slower or faster than others. Also, I would expect the 256GB model to have a higher resell value in 1-2 years. Finally, good to know I have all the storage capacity I will need. Might change the usage pattern of the phone to watch some movies downloaded and take and store some 4k videos with the phone.
So far as I know their is zero difference in the speed of he storage in the 64GB to the 255GB version, seems more like a placebo effect of possibly a new phone OS setup is causing it.
@OP - I don’t doubt your experience, but I can’t make any sense of the speed increase you’ve observed. Maybe if the 64GB’s memory was almost entirely full (and even then, speed shouldn’t have been impacted) - but apparently that wasn’t the case. I can’t come up with a single logical explanation, unless there were differences in setup. Did you restore the 256GB phone from a backup of the 64GB, or did you set it up as new?
Exactly what I was thinking.
Exactly what I was thinking.
I agree, the 256 model should not be any faster or more consistent than the 64 GB model. My previous 64 was running for 1-2 months, whilst I set up the 256 as new, i.e. no restore from backup, downloaded and configured all settings as new. Maybe this is why the 256 seems faster and more consistent...
I think you’re referring to the ‘write speeds’ with the larger storage models, which have shown some slight performance increases over the base model storages.
I might be wrong about this, but I think storage only effects speeds when you are maxing it out, because then the system has to shuffle things around to make room for what you're doing. If you likely won't use more, then I think you're good with the 64 gb and I don't think there would be much of a difference, if at all, in performance with more storage. If there is, I think it would be extremely small, and something you wouldn't notice just by using the phone.
I generally don’t think that’s necessary though. Because I would say it really depends on how the user is dependent that they need to even opt for the larger storage in the first place. If the user isn’t an intensive into media, 4K video, photos, then I don’t think it’s necessary to have the larger storage, although software updates do play a factor, but it really depends on the person, as I have always opted for the lower storage for years, and I’ve never had a concern with consuming all my memory, but then again, I am a ‘light user’ as example.
Larger capacity usually have faster write speed
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-8-8-plus-x-ssd-storage-speed-test-64-256gb.2068443/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-8-8-plus-x-ssd-storage-speed-test-64-256gb.2068443/