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A man using his iPhone 5 Pro with Kingston XS2000 SSD and a MacBook pro laptop on the table A man using his iPhone 5 Pro with Kingston XS2000 SSD and a MacBook pro laptop on the table

External storage for your iPhone 15

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Feb 2024
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In September 2023, Apple unveiled their latest smartphone to the world, the iPhone 15, and marking a significant shift: they bid farewell to the (almost) archaic Lightning connector in favour of USB-C®{{Footnote.N59135}}. This move has been a long time coming from Apple, especially in today’s digital age, where more and more consumers are using type-C devices.

There are a lot of cool features which you can do with the new USB-C port in addition to charging your phone, such as turning your phone into a power bank for your AirPods, Apple Watch or even another iPhone 15. Also, you can connect the iPhone 15 to an external storage device via the USB-C port, and if you have the Pro version of the smartphone, an external storage device will allow you to directly record video and save the internal storage of the iPhone 15. This makes the new iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max a massive game changer for videographers and other creatives who work with video content.

For those who have recently upgraded to the latest iPhone and are itching to expand their device’s storage capacity or want to know more about recording video to an external device, we share all you need to know in this article.

External storage devices for iPhone 15

iPhone 15 pro with Kingston USB and SSD drives on screen on a grey cement concrete stair background

The switch to a USB-C port on the iPhone 15 has opened a whole world of possibilities for the different external storage devices the latest iPhone users can use. There are several external storage solutions available on the market that are compatible with the iPhone 15 and will offer users the ability to store more data, access their files from anywhere, and manage their content efficiently.

External SSDs are a great option for iPhone users looking to expand their device’s storage. The advantage of external SSDs is their size, portability, and high speeds. They use flash memory and have no moving parts, resulting in faster read/write speeds, improved durability, and reliability. This makes them the perfect option for an iPhone with maxed-out storage.

It is very simple to use an external storage device with the iPhone 15. With the portable SSD connected using a compatible cable, you can transfer files between the iPhone and the SSD effortlessly. This includes photos, videos, documents, music and more. Users can copy, move or delete files as needed, effectively expanding their iPhone’s storage capacity. External SSDs are a great way to supplement your iPhone storage and accommodate larger files and volumes of data.

Kingston’s XS2000 external SSD is compatible with the iPhone 15 products, and with its pocket-sized portability, it makes a great companion for the iPhone 15. Offload files straight from your iPhone 15 onto the XS2000 SSD, and never worry about running out of storage again.

Type-C flash drives are also compatible with the iPhone 15. Kingston’s DataTraveler 80M could be a great option for people requiring more modest storage requirements. If you are using multiple devices with different ports, the Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3C has both Type-C and Type-A interfaces, making it compatible with a wider range of devices.

Recording video to an external drive

Another great feature of the new iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max devices, is that you can record video directly to an external drive using Apple’s ProRes video format. ProRes is used by videographers and content creators to maximise their footage, but the video format uses a lot of storage space and thus requires you to record directly to an external storage device.

However, to record to an external drive on the iPhone 15 Pro and ProMax, Apple has a few minimum requirements, the drive needs:

  • To use a USB Type-C connection with support for 10Gbps.
  • To be able to write at speeds of at least 220MB/s.
  • To be formatted with APFS or exFAT and must not be password protected.

Kingston’s XS2000 external SSD checks those boxes, whilst also delivering excellent reliability and durability. To record videos in ProRes on your iPhone, open the Settings app, tap Camera, tap Formats, and enable Apple ProRes under Video Capture. To record a ProRes video, open the Camera app, select Video, tap ProRes at the top of the screen, then record your video. The videos can be viewed directly from the iPhone using the Files app or disconnect the external drive and view the recordings on your secondary device.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the introduction of the USB-C port in the iPhone 15 devices marks a big change and provides users with expanded possibilities for their devices. It opens doors for external storage solutions and will change the way users manage and expand their iPhone storage. The ability to record video directly to an external storage device on the Pro versions of the iPhone 15 will revolutionise the way videographers and content creators record and manage video content. It was a very exciting change by Apple, and hopefully, more advanced features will be around the corner!

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