Read/write speed of Google Pixel internal storage

Graphner

Hello, everyone.

Initially, I had thought about buying a second-hand 128 GB Google Pixel, which is super cheap, since I want to have GrapheneOS and I know that I can only install it on Pixel devices. But reading comments all over the net, some people say that Android takes up more space every year and, therefore, 128 GB is not recommended at all nowadays.

The thing is, there seems to be another reason why the 128 GB versions are not recommended, as some people point out that their read and write speeds are much slower than the 512 GB and 1 TB versions. Specifically, they say that the larger the internal storage, the better the performance. I don't know if this is true.

So now I'm considering buying one of the following second-hand phones:

Google Pixel 9 Pro (512 GB)
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL (1 TB)
Google Pixel 8 Pro (512 GB, I think the 1 TB version was only sold in the US)

Is there anyone here with one of these phones who can verify if this is true? The actual read and write speeds of the internal storage can be verified with free tools such as Blackmagic's Disk Speed Test or any other similar tool. I would like to know what speeds these models can reach and if there is better performance with higher capacity.

I've been thinking about which phone to buy for a while and I can't make up my mind, so I'm hoping someone can help me with this.

hemingway

Graphner read and write speeds are much slower than the 512 GB and 1 TB versions

This is supposedly true for SSDs but I doubt you'd notice a real world difference between 400MB/s and 500MB/s unless continuously performing large file operations

Pixel 8 Pro 512GB running Fresh install of GrapheneOS 20251121

CPDT (for consistency) results (v2.4.0, separate profile, DCL via memoty exploit protection had to be disabled)

Sequential write[4MB] 403.08MB/s
Sequential read[4MB] 784.34MB/s
Random write[4KB] 24.04MB/s
Random read[4KB] 27.33MB/s

GrouchyGrape

Graphner no one can effectively give tailored advice unless we know how you use your phone and why exactly storage capacity/speed are a concern to you.

WAU3604

I am not sure where you are getting this info. I currently have a Pixel 9a with 128GB and GrapheneOS installed, I've been using it for a few months and haven't noticed anything bad due to performance of the internal drive. Though I also don't do gaming on my phone so I don't know if it has any affects there.

The main thing with the storage is if you are using up lots of your phone storage taking photos or videos, or downloading apps, etc. I don't do that much with my phones and my previous phone(pixel 7a 128GB, with stock PixelOS) averaged around 30% storage used.

I just used CPDT to test my 9a's drive and here are the average results I got:

Sequential write[4MB] 274MB/s
Sequential read[4MB] 1GB/s
Random write[4KB] 23MB/s
Random read[4KB] 21MB/s

Novalissoide

How on Earth did I just get random write: 43.67Mb/s
on my P6a?

Graphner

I have read something about this issue on Reddit.

But how should the results showed by CPDT be interpreted? Blackmagic's Disk Speed Test only shows two things:
-WRITE
-READ

Here is a screenshot of Disk Speed Test that I found:

https://www.diyphotography.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Screenshot-2020-10-05-153020.png

And I see that CPDT shows this:

Google Pixel 9a 128 GB:

Sequential write[4MB] 274MB/s
Sequential read[4MB] 1GB/s
Random write[4KB] 23MB/s
Random read[4KB] 21MB/s

Google Pixel 8 Pro 512 GB

Sequential write[4MB] 403.08MB/s
Sequential read[4MB] 784.34MB/s
Random write[4KB] 24.04MB/s
Random read[4KB] 27.33MB/s

I understand that Sequential write is equivalent to Write and Sequential read is equivalent to Read, but I don't know what Random write and Random read are.

In any case, if I am interpreting these results correctly, it seems that the greater the internal storage (512 GB vs. 128 GB), the greater the speed.

hemingway

Graphner In any case, if I am interpreting these results correctly, it seems that the greater the internal storage (512 GB vs. 128 GB), the greater the speed.

That is not at all what the (too limited) reports indicate.

Sequential read/write indicates the speed for transferring large files (which are read/written in sequence). But this tells you nothing about how fast your OS would perform since the OS doesn't simply read one large file at a time, it reads hundreds or thousands of files spread around the disk. This is where random read/write comes in. So for one thing, stop using software that doesn't even tell you what kind of test it is performing.

You will also need more than a data set of two to form any kind of meaningful conclusion, but this is my advice:

Newer hardware generally performs faster than older hardware
The real world performance differences in random read/write between smartphone releases are too small to have any meaningful impact on your decision (unless you're considering buying some chinese potato brand of smartphone)
So forget about speed - focus on how much data you will need to store on your phone.

gta3

128gb is perfectly fine for grapheneOS

I Myself use an old pixel 7a, and its more than perfect for me...

Just buy your 2nd hand pixel, u won't be dissapointed

Your next task is to get your family / friends on board