I Found The MagSafe Accessory You Didn't Know You Needed - Especially For Power Users

The iPhone is a fantastic tool for both budding and professional videographers, and it can easily capture stunning shots. However, the downside of using your smartphone for recording video is that you quickly realize video files are huge, and you soon find yourself battling storage issues.

The good news is that if you have one of the newer iPhones with USB-C ports, you can easily add more storage using an external drive. But then you start running into another problem -- an external drive dangling from your iPhone dampens the inner Christopher Nolan in the best of us. Clamps and mounts are available, but that's just another thing to carry (or forget).

Fortunately, the memory and storage experts at Lexar have come up with a solution, and it's rather brilliant. They've combined their impressive SL500 SSD with a magnetic silicone case that connects to the MagSafe ring on the iPhone and added a super-flexible USB-C cable to connect the two -- resulting in the perfect cinematography setup!

At the core of this kit is Lexar's SL500. I've covered this drive before, and it's a beast. It offers USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 performance of up to 2,000 MB/s read and 1,800 MB/s write.

This drive is fast enough for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max to shoot up to 4K 60 FPS directly to the drive. The SL500 supports Apple ProRes recording, a massive file format in which one minute of video shot in ProRes 4K takes up 6 GB of storage space -- but the detail it captures is stunning. 

I've tested the drive on several different systems, and my benchmark results were within 10% of the speeds listed on the spec sheet, which is more than acceptable.

The SL500 is thin and light, roughly the size of a credit card, measuring only 4.8 mm thick and weighing just 43 g. Its slim, solid aluminum unibody construction fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, slips unobtrusively into a pocket, and fits onto the back of an iPhone.

To make it fit, a silicone sleeve with its own magnetic ring allows the drive to clamp onto the MagSafe ring. The connection is solid, and because the drive itself is light, the kit doesn't add much weight or bulk to the iPhone.

Also: The thinnest external SSD I've ever tested is also really fast, but there's a catch

Lexar has also supplied a very flexible USB-C-to-USB-C cable for connecting the drive to the iPhone, a lanyard to prevent dropping the drive, and even a sticky magnetic ring so you can affix the drive to something else -- such as a spot on your desk, the lid of your laptop, or even an Android device.

The drive comes in 2 TB and 4 TB versions, so you can choose the capacity that best suits your needs.

ZDNET's buying advice

The Lexar SL500 SSD was already a superb SSD and perfect for iPhone videographers. However, the magnetic silicone sleeve and accessories transform it into a very neat and streamlined piece of kit that leverages the convenience of MagSafe. The kit retails for $206 for the 2TB drive, and $329 for the 4TB version.

Also: The best external hard drives you can buy

If you already have an SL500 drive and need a mount to attach to your iPhone, I recommend the SmallRig 2-in-1 SSD Mount.