SSDs are certainly getting smaller, but one company at CES 2025 was boasting that there's is the "world's smallest portable" solid state drive. After checking out Planck from ShiftCam, it seems hard to argue with that.
Planck is a tiny little rectangle dongle that snaps into the bottom of the iPhone via USB-C. Unlike a flash drive, where the connector is on the shorter side, the Planck places its connector right in the middle of the device, so it seamlessly matches the shape of the iPhone when plugged in.
I was surprised to see just how thin the Planck was. A few times when checking it out, I had to remind myself that I was not looking at an SSD card reader, which I thought the Planck was reminiscent of design-wise. I was looking at a fully-functioning solid state drive.
The Planck will help content creators utilize the camera on the iPhone and its ability to shoot high quality Apple ProRes video at 4K. These videos take up a lot of storage space, so having a removable SSD with up to 2TB of storage space will certainly be an upgrade for those just working with hundreds of gigs of space.
ShiftCam, the company behind the Planck, makes easy-to-use iPhone accessories for content creators. Stands, ring lights, and even a portable dock and charger called the SnapGrip, which basically allows users to shoot photos and videos as if they were holding a DSLR camera, are all part of ShiftCam's portfolio of products. An SSD made for mobile content creators seems to fit right into their target market.
The biggest thing that sets Planck apart from its other lines is that most of its trademark products utilize MagSafe so they easily snap into one another. 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 lineup.
The company also plans to launch a USB-C hub so users can connect multiple Planck drives to the iPhone as well.
The Planck will launch with a special price of $125 for 1TB and $199 for the 2TB model during a crowdfunding campaign next month.
