iPhone storage real/accurate??

I did have lots of pictures, and understand that my storage obviously only holds so much.. but then I’ve deleted about 10k photos (have about 20k left) and if i take maybe 1 or 2 more, it says I filled just as much storage as when i had the whole 30k & x’s me out of my apps. I’ve also deleted all apps besides messaging + deleted all my convos. Doesn’t make sense or am I missing something?