Among the USP’s of the Pixel lineup was the unlimited storage for good quality photos with Google Photos. This has now changed as the Pixel 4 will not contain this feature. It does, however, seem that iPhone users will have access to free unlimited storage with Google Photos due to some format loopholes.
A Reddit user discovered this loophole which shows that iPhone users who use their default settings to save photos in HEIC/HEIF formats will be given unlimited storage as if Google attempts to compress the files, the file size would increase.
All modern iPhones capture photos in this format which is smaller than compressed JPG files on Google. iPhones are now being able to store an unlimited number of photos in original quality because of the flaw in the system. This would mean that Apple is saving millions of dollars for Google by capturing media in HEIC format and is still ending up benefitting iPhone users.
Pixel 3 owners are also getting this benefit but those who will purchase the Pixel 4 will have to find other storage options or purchase space.
As of now, it is hard to confirm whether there is another option on the Pixel 4 to save the photos in HEIC/HEIF formats to allow the user greater access to back-ups. At some point, this feature could come for the Pixel 4, though.
The loophole only applies to photographs while videos are saved in 1080p resolution.
