For years, Google users have been enjoying free backup service for their photos and videos from Google Photos as long as they are willing to accept storing slightly compressed versions of those contents. Unfortunately, this privilege will end next year.
In the announcement by the VP of Google Photos, Shimrit Ben-Yair, new photos and videos that are uploaded to Google Photos from 1 June 2021 onwards will be part of the 15GB free storage that comes with each Google account. This also applies to additional storage space that you may have purchased through Google One.
All your existing photos and videos backed up in High quality and any new content you back up in High quality before June 1, 2021 are exempt from this change and will not count toward your Google Account storage. pic.twitter.com/lRaY4mQNFN
— Google Photos (@googlephotos) November 11, 2020
On another hand, owners of Pixel 1 to Pixel 5 devices will continue to be able to upload their photos for free even after 1 June 2021. This is not exactly surprising though given that they are Made by Google phones.
As for existing photos and videos as well as those that are uploaded from now until 31 May 2021, they will not be affected by this new direction. In case you’re wondering about the paid Google One services, the 100GB plan is currently priced at RM 8.49 per month while the 200GB and 2TB plans can be obtained for a monthly fee of RM 11.99 and RM 42.99, respectively.
