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Google is reducing free storage space for photos in the Google Photos service and ending free unlimited backups next year, and pushing users to buy more space.
The search giant has announced that it will start limiting the number of high-quality images users can store in the company’s cloud backup service starting next June, to an extent that can help protect profit margins.
Google launched the service in 2015 with the low-quality unlimited backup feature, but it is sufficient for most users.
The company said in a blog post: Growing demand for storage means Google Photos can no longer meet the old unlimited capacity policy for high-quality photos.
He added: There will be a maximum storage limit for photos, along with files in Google Docs editors, for a total of 15 GB.
Only original quality images or high resolution copies were previously counted towards the maximum.
Google’s plans for additional storage, dubbed Google One, begin by paying $ 2 per month for 100 GB.
Over 1 billion people use Google Photos every month with 4 trillion photos or videos uploaded and 28 billion added every week.
The company estimated that less than 20% of them would need to be upgraded for additional storage capacity over the next three years.
Google was quick to determine that current photos and videos uploaded in high quality – large 16-megapixel images and clips with a resolution above 1080 pixels – before that date will not count towards the storage limit.
This means that photos and videos saved before June 1, 2021 will still be considered free and exempt from the storage limit.
Google has faced declining profits in recent years as it invests heavily in cloud storage systems without seeing an increase in revenue.
This year, the company aimed to close the gap by adjusting the franchises offered by Google One to attract more sales.
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