alisonels

Q: My 5s is "32 gb" but why is it only 26.5 gb?

So i just bought an iphone 5s 32 gb from my friend. then i checked the phone's specification on settings -> general -> about. it says that my phone is only 26.5 gb?? where's the other 5.5 gb?. Please help me because 5.5 gb is a lot of storage for me personally,thanks!

iPhone 5s, iOS 9.3.2

Posted on Jun 29, 2016 2:04 AM

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Q: My 5s is "32 gb" but why is it only 26.5 gb?

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  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Jun 29, 2016 2:11 AM in response to alisonels
    Level 9 (78,188 points)
    iTunes
    Jun 29, 2016 2:11 AM in response to alisonels

    A good chunk of the storage is taken up by the system and the included apps, just as on a desktop computer. 32GB is the overall storage, not the available storage.

  • by ziggy29,

    ziggy29 ziggy29 Jun 29, 2016 3:17 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 2 (293 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 29, 2016 3:17 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    To add to what Roger posted above, most of the time marketing departments refer to one billion bytes as a 'GB', but in reality, as reported by the system, a gigabyte is actually 2^30 bytes, which is 1,073,741,824 bytes.

     

    So if a storage device claims 32GB of storage, it likely has 32 billion bytes of storage, maybe slightly more.  When the system sees that much storage, it will report it using the "binary" definition of GB (1 GB = 2^30 bytes) and 32 billion bytes will report as 29.80 GB.

     

    So really the 32 GB storage as reported by manufacturers is 29.80 GB to "the system".  Add to that the system software and apps that come with it and that's why you'll see less than that reported as available; in the case of the OP, 26.5GB.

  • by JasonNvm,

    JasonNvm JasonNvm Jun 29, 2016 3:32 AM in response to alisonels
    Level 1 (112 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 29, 2016 3:32 AM in response to alisonels

    Two persons above completely explained whats going on with it.

     

    the only exception in my life so far is i got a 8.1 GB thumb drive when it claims 8GB xdxd, but guess it in random junk pail now

  • by JMBernal,

    JMBernal JMBernal Jun 29, 2016 4:16 AM in response to alisonels
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Jun 29, 2016 4:16 AM in response to alisonels

    The above answers are correct, but if you'd like more info about why the total storage and the available storage for use are different take a look at How OS X and iOS report storage capacity - Apple Support

  • by alisonels,

    alisonels alisonels Jun 29, 2016 11:21 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 29, 2016 11:21 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Ohh i didn't know about that, thank you