- SanDisk and ShiftCam launch portable SSDs that attach to your iPhone
- They expand your iPhone’s storage for taking photos and videos
- Both options cost less than Apple’s internal storage upgrades
The best iPhones are capable of recording incredibly high-quality ProRes video footage, but that means you can often find your device rapidly running out of storage. Thankfully, two companies have just launched a couple of portable SSDs that might help alleviate this problem.
The first is from storage maker SanDisk, and it takes the form of a tiny SSD that attaches to the back of your iPhone using MagSafe. Dubbed the Creator Phone SSD, SanDisk’s storage drive magnetically snaps onto your iPhone, with a cable hooking up to its USB-C port.
This blue-colored SSD comes in 1TB and 2TB sizes and offers USB 3.2 Gen 2 connectivity. That means you’ll get read speeds of up to 1,000MB/s and write speeds of up to 950MB/s. And because it’s got a USB-C cable, you can plug it directly into your laptop and transfer off your recorded files.
Given you’ll be carrying it around with your iPhone, the SanDisk Creator Phone SSD needs to be durable. To that end, SanDisk says it has three-meter drop protection and IP65 water and dust resistance. It’s priced at $109.99 (around £90 / AU$180) for the 1TB model and $169.99 (about £140 / AU$275) for the 2TB version.
The ‘world’s smallest’ portable SSD
The second iPhone storage device announced at CES 2025 is the ShiftCam Planck. ShiftCam has traditionally focused on lenses and camera accessories for the iPhone, but the Planck is instead an SSD that can be used to store photos, videos, and other media. Unlike the SanDisk Creator Phone SSD, ShiftCam’s product is a small, rectangular storage drive that connects directly into your phone’s USB-C slot.
The PLANCK offers transfer speeds of up to 1,050MB/s and comes with IP65 dust and water protection. ShiftCam says the device is drop-proof, although it doesn’t state how high it can fall from and survive.
ShiftCam says the Planck is the world’s smallest portable SSD, and it weighs in at just 10 grams, meaning it shouldn’t get in the way when you’re working on the go. It comes in 1TB and 2TB sizes, which cost $189 (about £150 / AU$300) and $229 (about £190 / AU$370). That said, ShiftCam is reportedly planning to launch a Kickstarter page in February, where the 1TB and 2TB models will be priced at $125 (around £100 / AU$200) and $199 (about £160 / AU$320), respectively.
Whether you prefer the SanDisk or the ShiftCam SSDs, you’ve now got a couple more options for expanding your iPhone’s capacity without paying Apple’s high prices for internal storage. If you shoot a lot of media on your iPhone, they could be wise investments for 2025.
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