It is common knowledge that consumers will not get to enjoy the full storage capacity of smartphones as advertised. Software must be installed and that will eat up space even before getting into the hands of end users.

Technology website "Which" has released a study showing consumers the real storage space that the popular smartphones today offer.

"Apple's more affordable (relatively) iPhone, the 5c, is the most generous of the 16GB phones we're recently tested, giving you 12.6GB of memory (79%) to play with. Meanwhile Google's new Nexus 5, which runs on the Android operating system like the S4, is relatively bloatware free with 12.28GB (77%) of usable space. The iPhone 5s is in bronze position, providing 12.2GB (76%) of usable storage," Jon Barrow of Which wrote.

The Xperia Z1 of Sony offers 11.43 GB; the Z30 of BlackBerry gives users 11.20GB; HTC's One Mini boots up with 10.44GB; the LG G2 is in seventh place with 10.37 GB; and completing the top 8 is the Samsung Galaxy S4 with just 8.56 GB.

"Running on Android, Samsung has heavily customised the S4 with their Touchwiz interface. This includes many of Samsung's own features but, while it looks pretty and grabs headlines, most of the stuff is next to useless. Eye tracking technology that pauses video when you look away from the screen sounds attractive but in reality it works badly, gulps down your battery and monopolises your internal storage," Barrow explained.

Considering the bloatware and all, owners of the Galaxy S4 can get a microSD to add as much as 64GB to its storage. That is a big plus.

The report also pointed out that the the three most generous handsets in terms of storage space do not have slots for a memory card. It means that while the internal storage promises a good amount of space, users cannot expand it using a memory card.