It’s all over the tech channels and you’ve heard it for sure by now: Apple’s newly announced iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus bring with them a new camera that is capable of not only taking some pretty impressive still shots, but also some equally impressive 4K video.
While it is true that the new iPhones aren’t the first smartphones in the world to offer 4K recording, they are the first with that shiny half-bitten apple logo on it, and as such, this will be the first time many people have had the capability.
But then you realise that shooting videos in 4K eats up memory space fast. Like, really fast. And since Apple is offering the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus in 16 GB versions, this begs the question: how long can you keep on shooting 4K on it before you run out of space?
Marques Brownlee, a.k.a. MKBHD, probably the best tech reviewer on YouTube, has gotten a hands-on with the new iPhone 6s and has shared some info on the new video formats. Under the settings page, a 4K video at 30fps would take around 375MB/minute of recording while a standard Full HD 1080p takes up just 130MB/minute. That’s nearly triple the file size just to shoot in the highest quality.
Like most smart phones, you don’t really get the full available space as advertised as the storage is often partitioned for the operating system and bundled apps. So if you’re getting a 16GB iPhone 6s, you’re probably left about 10GB of free space once you’ve installed and set up all your essential apps. With just 10GB, that leaves you with enough space for just 27 minutes of 4K video.
If 4K video recording is your thing, it is recommended that you take at least the 64GB model or 128GB if you could afford that extra premium.
The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be available for pre-order staring tomorrow with full availability by 25th September in first wave countries.
Thad said, take a look at this 4K footage from the iPhone 6S below, provided you have a 4K monitor and your data plan and hardware don’t burn up trying to play it. Isn’t it beautiful?
