This is going to be a big year for mobile storage when it comes to adding additional space to the smartphone in your pocket. Multiple companies are set to launch compact SSD solutions that will conveniently fit into the bottom of your phone, sliding into its USB-C port. Looking no more than just a small extension of the length of the phone.
One of the first models we ran across was at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, where Choetech (a Chinese company that develops a huge portfolio of products for smartphones, charging (in general), and more), was displaying it at its booth. The company showed off the small drive’s capabilities, including a built-in LCD display that showed capacity, transfer speed based on the device you have it connected to, estimated lifespan, and more.
It was a fascinating approach to mobile storage and it was nice to have the various analytics on the screen. It will (hopefully) make its way to the market sometime this year and will come in various capacity options. But it isn’t the only one, as other companies are pushing to launch similar products, although they don’t come with the flash display built-in.
ShiftCam is another company that specializes in smartphone accessories, themed around photography on the go using your phone. It too has just announced its own small SSD for phones, called the Planck SSD. Although it doesn’t have a built-in display, it will feature an even smaller footprint as it is only focused on storage and nothing else. It will be available in 1TB ($129.99) and 2TB ($199.99) options and plans to launch sometime before this Summer.
So gone are the days where you need to carry around bulky storage for that phone in your pocket (assuming you ever had to). Now you will be easily able to attach storage to your phone in a way that allows it to partially blend right in. Besides some of these MagSafe options that are super slim and attach to the back of your phone, these will make some of the best smartphone accessories for (smartphone) photographers this year.
