Apple's Google Cloud spending has increased by 50% over last year

What you need to know

• Apple's Google Cloud spending has increased 50% on last year.
• The company now has more than 8 exabytes of storage.

Apple currently holds more than 8 exabytes of storage.

Apple continues to rely heavily on Google Cloud as a new report claims the company is now spending 50% more than it did last year. Google's cloud-based storage solution plays host to iCloud and all the data kept within it.

According to a new report by The Information, Apple is now Google Cloud's biggest customer and is on track to spend around $300 million on Google Cloud storage this year.

This comes as Apple is readying iCloud+, a rebranding of its paid-for iCloud tiers that allow users to take up more cloud storage — including expanded HomeKit Secure Video camera recordings. As Apple continues to allow iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to push more data into the cloud it stands to reason that it would need more cloud storage. With photo and video quality improving with every iPhone and file size growing, simply enabling iCloud Photo Library is enough for every user to eat into Apple's storage by the gigabyte.

Google is one of the biggest cloud players on the planet and running services of that ilk has never been Apple's forte. It's little surprise that it partners with Google, or other companies, in this way. It's always better to pay something to do something they do well than to do it yourself, poorly, for free.

For those who prefer not to use iCloud, there are tons of other options out there. We've rounded up the best cloud storage apps for iPhone and iPad, and they'll work equally well with your Mac as well.