Skip to main content

Google is giving free, unlimited original-quality photo and video backups with the Pixel phones

Google is giving free, unlimited original-quality photo and video backups with the Pixel phones

/

An enhanced version of Google Photos

Share this story

As part of its Pixel phone announcement today, Google said it will give Pixel phone users free unlimited cloud storage of the full-sized, high-resolution images and videos that are captured on the phone. This includes 4K video, which the new smartphone is capable of capturing.

Google already offers free unlimited cloud storage of photos through its Google Photos app, which it introduced in May of last year; but the deal for non-Pixel phone users is limited to compressed photos. If you want to upload your "original," high-resolution images and videos, it counts against your account storage, which usually means you end up paying a small monthly fee for additional cloud storage (anywhere from $1.99 a month for 100 gigabytes of storage, up to $10 a month for a terabyte of storage).

Not for Pixel owners, though, who will be able to store all high-res media for free. The offering is clearly part of an effort to sell users on the pricey Google-made phone, but also, to compete with companies ranging from Apple to startup Nextbit, which offer a range of cloud storage options for photo backups.