iPhone users who save photos as HEIC/HEIF may get free unlimited storage of photos at original resolution with Google Photos, unlike Pixel 4 owners
Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac :
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Google Photos built its 2015 launch on unlimited free storage across Android, iOS, and web, with the free tier capped at 16MP images and 1080p video — a compromise most reviewers found generous at the time. The Pixel line's free original-quality backup was the premium extension of that promise.
That promise broke with the Pixel 4: Google's new flagship launched without free unlimited full-resolution backups, removing one of the phone's signature perks. Days later, users discovered iPhones saving photos as HEIC/HEIF were getting original-quality uploads for free — the exact perk Pixel 4 owners had just lost — and Google acknowledged the loophole, calling it a bug.
First-order effects
- iPhone users who save in HEIC/HEIF can back up original-resolution photos to Google Photos at no cost, while Pixel 4 buyers pay for a flagship that ships without the perk that defined earlier Pixels.
- Google is forced to publicly classify the behavior as a bug, putting it in the awkward position of promising to remove a benefit users want rather than extend it.
Second-order effects
- Google faces a differentiation problem on its own platform: if the loophole survives, the cheapest path to free original-quality backup is an iPhone, undercutting the Pixel 4's remaining hardware rationale.
- Pressure builds on Google to either close the HEIC path or restore original-quality backups to Pixel owners — either choice costs something, since the 16MP cap that kept the free tier affordable was the whole point of the 2015 quality limits.
Third-order effects
- Free unlimited storage is revealed as structurally unsustainable for Google: the loophole episode precedes the company's move to end free unlimited Photos storage entirely with a 15GB cap, and the perk's replacement is software — Google later opened Magic Editor and other AI editing tools to all users as the new differentiator.
The trend: Google Photos is migrating its value proposition from free storage — which the HEIC loophole exposed as unenforceable — toward AI editing features, with hardware perks like Pixel-only backups caught in between.