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Here’s how much 4K video you can shoot on an iPhone 6s

With yesterday’s announcement that the iPhone 6s will shoot 4K video, many prospective buyers may be wondering just how much space they’ll need to contain all the videos they’ll shoot.

That question has been answered thanks to Marques Brownlee’s hands-on video of the device. In that video, Brownlee briefly provides a look at the phone’s camera settings, including the space requirements for 4K video…

4K video is significantly larger than 1080p and as a result requires a lot more storage space. While a single minute 1080p footage at the standard 30 frames per second requires only 130 MB, a 4K video at the same framerate will require a whopping 375 MB.

That means if you’re eyeing the 16 GB iPhone, you’re probably going to want to turn your video size down. At that rate, you’d fill up a full 16 GB in about 40 minutes, and that’s not counting the space that’s already used up by iOS, apps, other photos and videos, music, and all of your other data.

Users on larger iPhones, like the 64 GB model, will have a little more room to stash those videos. The mid-size phone can store around three hours of footage. As you might already have guessed, the 128 GB phone can take about 6 hours of 4K video before running out of space.

Of course, all of these numbers are just estimates. Each minute of video may not take up exactly 375 MB, and available space on your phone will be less than the advertised 64 or 128 GB once the operating system is installed and all of your other data has been added. Still, these numbers should help give you a good idea of which model you’ll need depending on your video recording needs.

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Comments

  1. taylormartyn - 9 years ago

    where is the 4k frame rate defined?

    • chrisl84 - 9 years ago

      In the photo??? 4K at 30fps???

      • taylormartyn - 9 years ago

        but where it defines the size per minute, for some reason it does not list the fps there. This gives me pause.

    • Mike Beasley - 9 years ago

      It’s right there in the screenshot.

      • taylormartyn - 9 years ago

        but where it defines the size per minute, for some reason it does not list the fps for 4k there. This gives me pause.

    • fistsoffrost123 - 9 years ago

      Two commenters already replied and you still haven’t checked. In the picture it says. 4K AT 30 FPS. Look at it.

    • Jose Kuervo - 8 years ago

      its right in the picture

  2. mikhailt - 9 years ago

    The problem is even worse when you’re traveling, you have to offload these data first before you can continue with new videos and images. iCloud upload is not even feasible (have you seen these roaming charges?), so you then have to bring a laptop with you to offload these videos and images. I assume Apple is still using USB2 transfer protocol, right? That means ~35MBps, so 10 seconds per minute of 4K60fps video but for some reason, it feels longer via iTunes.

    Has anyone tested these Wi-Fi drives to see if it works well for transferring data on its own without a computer and then trashing it off the iOS device? Maybe 9to5Mac should do a review of these things to see if it is worth it.

    • Peter Hillman - 9 years ago

      Most people that travel bring a laptop with them.

      • Citation please!

      • mikhailt - 9 years ago

        Almost no one in my family and friends bought their laptops, that’s like two dozens of folks. They go on vacation to avoid the distractions and thus, they do not care to bring the computers.

    • Rio (@Crzy_rio) - 9 years ago

      You can use WiFi Sync and transfer at double the theoretical speed ;P

    • arjitmehra (@Arjitmehra) - 9 years ago

      *4K30fps

      • mikhailt - 9 years ago

        Oops, thanks. I wish we can edit our posts here.

    • Smigit - 9 years ago

      When I traveled recently in Europe, iCloud syncing wasn’t an issue at all. If anything most hotels internet connection far eclipsed that of my home back here in Australia. There were also plenty of cafes and the like that offered free wifi.

    • fistsoffrost123 - 9 years ago

      iCloud in its current iteration isn’t a complete solution as you cannot offload at all without removing it from your device.

      I use OneDrive in addition to iCloud to offload pictures I don’t want to keep on my phone. All you need is a wifi connection and the app does everything else for you.

  3. David Farwell - 9 years ago

    mikhailt, they work wonderfully. I have two that I use every week

  4. applegetridofsimandjack - 9 years ago

    Apple be like ‘But there is also a 64GB and 128GB version’ Troll Face.

  5. Scott (@ScooterComputer) - 9 years ago

    And 40% or more of those glorious 4K minutes will be shot by morons in 9:16 aspect ratio.

    • oh that bugs me…someone close to me records that way constantly…and picture too. I like to make a yearly video of each kid and HATE all the vertical videos and photos…especially Videos, but also the vertical shots that should have been composed horizontal.

    • rettun1 - 9 years ago

      I don’t understand the fuss. Sure, it’s not ideal to watch with a standard computer monitor, but how does that make somebody a moron for recording something how they wanted? Many casual videos people record don’t need a sweeping view of the landscape, and often just have one subject to focus on. That’s why so many videos of friends casually recording friends doing something funny or cool are in portrait orientation: they rush to get their phone out and start to record the way they are already naturally holding the phone. Not everybody is a videographer that is meticulously thinking about how the video will look once complete. That’s the purpose, I believ, of an iPhone: to feel natural, fade to the background, and let you do you how you want.

      • fistsoffrost123 - 9 years ago

        Because when your casual cool friend uploads these videos to their social network of choice it looks like shit with huge letterboxes on the left and right sides, which forces you to hold your phone in landscape just to get a semi decent view of a vertical video. It’s idiotic.

  6. pdoobs - 9 years ago

    i’m just happy that i can now record video at 720p 30fps. not everything i record needs to be 1080p or higher.

  7. srgmac - 9 years ago

    Awesome! I Can’t wait to watch all the new 4K videos I’ll be recording on the brand new Apple TV — Oh wait…

  8. moo083 - 9 years ago

    Are you sure 4k videos aren’t recorded in H.265? If so it show be about half that size

    • Mike Beasley - 9 years ago

      Well, since the screenshot above from iOS 9 clearly states that the size of the video will be 375 MB per minute, I’m going to guess that it’s probably not H.265.

  9. knight (@knighthunt78) - 9 years ago

    wonder if they’ll be an app to shoot 4k at 24fps

  10. Paul Van Obberghen - 9 years ago

    The good question, I haven’t seen answered yet, is what codec the iPhone 6S is using to shoot and edit 4K. Is it h264 or h265? Because the latter is the one chosen for 4K/8K broadcasting and coming UHD BluRay. And h265 is said to use more bandwidth than h264 granted, but not that much more. Certainly not 3 times as much. My guess is that Apple wont pay for h265 licensing and this is exactly why it wont be in the Apple TV soon. Just like Apple would have payed for BluRay licensing for the Superdrive in the iMac. Somebody has the answer?

    • Paul Van Obberghen - 9 years ago

      … Would _not_ have payed for…

    • magor34 - 9 years ago

      I’m not quite sure what you mean but H.265 (aka HEVC) is twice as efficient as H.264.

      UHD (or 4K) has four times the amount of pixels as 1080p, meaning the content should be four times larger in file size (at the same bitrate and codec).
      H.265 (HEVC) basically cuts the data in half while maintaining the same quality. That’s why the H.265 codec will be used for UHD Bluray and is currently being used for Netflix’s UHD streaming.
      Apple currently uses H.265 for FaceTime video calling on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. However, H.265 requires a lot more computing power to encode than H.264 does. 4K video recording and H.265 encoding, might be too much for the A9 to handle. Time will tell, hopefully.

  11. Linh (@hayashi_kun) - 9 years ago

    Is recorded audio still mono? If so, what’s the point in having 4K recording etc?

    • PhilBoogie - 9 years ago

      That’s a good point. Many people don’t know the most important aspect of shooting video, is, tada, audio. There is no annoyance in viewing poor quality video (often done with filters on purpose), but if the sound quality is crap it makes for an excruciating experience. Ask any movie director or someone in that field of expertise.

      • knight (@knighthunt78) - 9 years ago

        All semi/pro-productions use secondary sound via zoom recorder etc, no uses native camera audio, so if someone is using iphone to shoot 4k for pro use, he would use external sound recording which is the norm.

  12. egnat69 (@egnat69) - 9 years ago

    any info on the Slo-Mo resolutions? 1080p120 would be awesome

  13. 4k at only 30fps, no thank you. I guess we wait for the iPhone 7.