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The era of 15GB free Gmail storage is ending (Update: Google responds)
(www.androidauthority.com)
this post was submitted on 15 May 2026
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I would prefer they didn't do this, but I understand. Storage isn't without cost. 5 GB is a lot for email actually. It's probably intended to reduce abuse from bots. We should probably not be using free email anyway.
Storage is incredibly cheap, though. If Google used S3, the cost for a 15GB account would be pennies a year, and since they host their own architecture it can be orders of magnitude less. This isn't about recouping costs. This is just about shaking users down for more subscription money.
It's about tying phone numbers to accounts.
If it were, they wouldn't tie it to storage space. That doesn't matter to scammers and spammers; they'd require it for sending to more than x recipients per month, or for API access, or for any number of other things. The one thing spammers and scammers don't need is storage space. They just need a trusted email gateway and IP address.
New Gmail accounts still get 15GB if they provide a phone number. So it's specifically about that.
Have you heard about Android?
Yes. And?
they need thier AI bucks somehow.