Smarpthones are getting bigger not just in physical size but also in memory capacity, and Korean makers have heated the race.

According to the smartphone industry on Thursday, Korea’s second largest smartphone maker LG Electronics Inc. will introduce a 128GB version on its latest flagship G6 on June 27. It will be the first time for the company to release its G series phones with a memory storage of 128GB that is enough to store 26,000 music files or 25 standard-definition movies.

LG Electronics’ decision to up its flagship phone’s internal storage memory comes after its rival Samsung Electronics has enjoyed the phenomenal success with the 128GB variant of its Galaxy S8 series.

Samsung Electronics has added a 128GB version to its Galaxy S8 series when it launched the flagship phone series earlier this year. Galaxy S8 128GB models were completely sold out upon their release, with the first 150,000 units all booked just three days after the April pre-order kicked off, according to an unnamed industry source.

Given the total 620,000 units pre-booked during that period, this means that one out of three people bought the 128GB version. Samsung Electronics introduced its first 128GB model in March 2015, with the Galaxy S6 Edge.

Smartphone makers’ decision to up memory space in smartphones is often seen as part of their efforts to raise the device prices. But such move also has come in line with an increase in the release of higher-resolution content. Demand for greater memory has also grown as more users favor full-HD movies weighing 5GB apiece and more phones are equipped with high-quality cameras. Cloud storage and SD cards are other options to up smartphone memory, but many users consider them a hassle and not as convenient as larger internal storage.

Apple first released the 128GB iPhone 6 in 2014 and even a 256GB model in its iPhone7 series. “Apple is all for big storage as the iPhone is rooted in the high-capacity MP3 player iPod,” said an industry official. “For the new iPhone 8, the 128GB is likely to be the smallest storage option available.”

By Oh Chan-jong

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