SSDs are getting smaller and smaller, but one company at CES 2025 was bragging about the “world’s smallest portable” solid state drive. After looking at Planck from ShiftCam, it seems hard to argue with that.
The Planck is a small rectangular dongle that fits under the iPhone via USB-C. Unlike a flash drive, where the connector is on the short side, Planck places its connector in the middle of the device, so it easily matches the position of the iPhone when plugged in.
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I was surprised to see how thin Planck was. A few times when I tested it, I had to remind myself that I wasn’t looking at an SSD card reader, which I thought Planck was reminding of in design wisdom. I was looking for a fully functional solid state drive.
Planck will help content creators use the camera on the iPhone and its ability to shoot high-quality Apple ProRes video in 4K. These videos take up a lot of storage space, so having a removable SSD with 2TB of storage space will definitely be an upgrade for those who are just working with hundreds of space.
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ShiftCam, the company behind Planck, makes easy-to-use iPhone accessories for content creators. Stands, ring lights, and even a portable dock and charger called SnapGrip, which allows users to capture photos and videos as if they were holding a DSLR camera, are all part of the ShiftCam product portfolio. An SSD designed for mobile content creators seems to be entering their target market.
The biggest thing that sets Planck apart from its other lines is that most of its commercial products use MagSafe and therefore easily fit into each other. But, ShiftCam also makes camera lenses for the iPhone, so it’s not like Planck is the first of its products to deviate from the rest of the system.
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The company also plans to introduce a USB-C hub so users can connect multiple Planck drives to the iPhone.
Planck will launch at a special price of $125 for the 1TB and $199 for the 2TB model during the fundraising campaign next month.