How to check which storage size your iPhone is

Storage size changes what your phone is worth, sometimes by a fair amount, and it is not written anywhere on the outside of the phone. Here is where it is.

Open Settings, then General, then About. Scroll a little and you will see a line called Capacity. That is the number we mean: 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB. The same screen shows Model Name, which tells you exactly which iPhone it is, so it is worth reading both lines while you are there.

The number that fools people is on a different screen. Settings, General, iPhone Storage shows a bar with how much you have used and how much is free. The free figure is not your storage size, and neither is the used one. A 128 GB phone with 23 GB free is still a 128 GB phone. Only the Capacity line on the About screen is the size.

If the Capacity line ever shows a number just under one of those sizes rather than the round figure, it is that size. A phone never has more storage than it was sold with, so a figure a little under 128 means a 128, and the same for the others.

If the phone will not turn on, the original box has the size printed on the label, and so does the email or receipt from wherever it was bought. If none of those are to hand, pick the size you believe it is. We read the real capacity on the bench and price the phone we actually receive, so an honest guess is fine.

The size only moves the price on some models. On the newest phones it matters a lot; on older ones the sizes can price within a pound or two of each other. The calculator shows you the figure for your exact combination, so you never have to work it out yourself.