SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 25 — Apple’s colourful smartphone comes out top in the Which survey of 16GB handsets while the Samsung Galaxy SIV comes last for usable space left for apps and media files.

Just because that shiny new smartphone claims to offer 16GB, in reality, once formatting and the device’s operating system have been accounted for, there’s every possibility that the storage space for apps, games, photos and films is much, much lower.

That’s the case with Samsung’s current flagship phone. The Galaxy SIV only leaves 8.56GB of storage free for the user and when Which, the UK Consumer Association, discovered this in May 2013 it decided to start checking how much space was available on the handsets it has reviewed since.

With 12.6GB or 79 per cent of its 16GB free for the owner, the iPhone 5C is currently the most generous handset on the market. In second place is Google’s Nexus 5 smartphone (12.28GB) and the third most spacious phone is the iPhone 5S (12.2GB). However, at the other end of the scale, the Samsung Galaxy SIV is still firmly in last place with just 54 per cent of its 16GB of storage available.

And although the iPhone comes out top, Which points out that unlike many handsets in the study, it has no SD or MicroSD card support so it’s impossible to expand the phone’s internal storage further.

As Which says: “you should note that none of [the top three phones] have memory card slots. So while they may have the largest usable internal memories, you can’t add to them by using a cheap memory card. In contrast, you can massively boost the S4’s memory, adding an extra 64GB of storage for only around £40” (about RM220).

Indeed, such was the uproar when it was first revealed that the latest Samsung flagship hogged so much of the internal storage with its OS and other files that the company released a software update that makes it possible to store apps on a microSD card. Usually, only media files can be stored on an expansion card as apps and other software need to be stored on the phone’s internal drive in order to work.

The results in full

1) Apple iPhone 5C 12.6GB

2) Google Nexus 5 12.28GB

3) Apple iPhone 5S 12.2GB

4) Sony Xperia Z1 11.43GB

5) BlackBerry Z30 11.2GB

6) HTC One Mini 10.44GB

7) LG G2 10.37GB

8) Samsung Galaxy SIV 8.56GB

— AFP-Relaxnews