Lexar recently launched a Kickstarter for a brand-new portable SSD system targeted toward smartphone content creators, and within a couple of hours it had surpassed its $10,000 target goal (approximately £7,600 / AU$15,000) and hit $700,000 (£532,000 / AU$1.03 million).
While Lexar is probably best known for making some of the best memory cards for cameras, the new launch focuses on the new wave of content creation – and offers a memory solution for those shooting on camera phones.
Photography and particularly filmmaking on phones has become increasingly popular, and a fantastic option given the continued advancement of mobile technology. But content creation on a phone faces hurdles – perhaps the main one being a shortage of internal storage.
Creators using phones will be all too familiar with the lack of memory on mobile device, particularly as things like ProRes become more widely adopted, but the Lexar Professional Go Portable SSD provides up to a whopping 2TB of extra storage.
"We've had a great response from our backers already," says Lexar's director of marketing, Joey Lopez.
"We're gaining valuable insights on the demand of mobile filmmaking storage, and we love the opportunity to engage with our customers as we strive to deliver more cutting-edge products that enable them to create more freely."
Using SSDs with your phone is not a new idea, but there are many features of the new Lexar device that make it more phone-friendly than your standard SSD.
Although compatible with Android, the Lexar Professional Go Portable SSD is targeted towards iPhone users – in particular those using the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro Max. It is designed for recording 4K 60fps videos in Apple ProRes, and via its USB-C interface provides "lightning fast" read (1,050 mb/s) and write (1,000 mb/s) speeds.
It is super compact and can attach directly via USB-C or can be clipped to the back of the phone or iPhone rig with little footprint, offering versatility and convenience.
For its size the SSD is also surprisingly durable and robust, and is ready to tackle most shooting scenarios that can be thrown at it. It features an IP65 rating for dust- and water resistance, and can withstand drops from up to 3.28ft / 1m. It also has a silicone case to further enhance this protection.
For those who want a more advanced setup (or, as Lexar states, to go from "amateur to pro") the SSD comes with a Hub system, complete with additional USB-C interfaces and improved power.
This creates a central hub for your iPhone rig and enables further expansion, with options for adding microphone receivers and lights without trailing wires and cables feeding to the same hub.
At the time of writing the Lexar Professional Go Portable SSD Kickstarter campaign has a two days left, and although it has soared past its target it is still offering exclusive discounts for backers.
Editor's note: As with all crowdfunding projects, there is no guarantee that the final product will match the early depictions in the campaign – or that the final product will be completed or delivered at all. DCW does not endorse this or any other crowdfunding campaign.
You may also be interested in our guides to the best memory cards, the best portable SSD, and the best phones for video.
