3 Best SSDs for recording video on iPhone 15 Pro

The changes in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max make the flagship iPhones excellent devices for videography, to take full advantage of the USB-C speed, these are the best external SSDs for the iPhone 15 that one should carry.

Apple recently launched its devices – iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max – the cameras of these phones have an updated feature called ‘ProRes Log’ for video capturing making this phone an essential purchase for videographers and other creators that rely on video.

The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max equipped with USB-C offers 10Gbit output – giving it a lot of bandwidth to transfer data from the iPhone to another storage device.

This fast data transfer is a very video-friendly feature allowing the users to film the highest quality video possible without thinking about the internal storage of the iPhone.

The latest iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max equipped with a tetraprism camera lens on the rear allow the phone to record a video on 4K ProRes Log footage to its internal memory at 30 frames per second (FPS). Meanwhile, the users are enabled to record the same resolution with 60 frames per second (FPS) by connecting an external memory – namely an external drive connected via USB-C.

From a videographer perspective this feature makes the iPhone an extremely useful device.

Best SSD for iPhone 15 video — External drive requirements

To record an external drive and support the 4K 60fps ProRes footage, Apple provides a set of minimum requirements.

As Apple’s equipped its new devices with a USB 3 Type-C connection with a support for 10Gbps output, the drive needs to support this requirement.

However, it is important to remember that not every USB-C cable or drive can operate at high data transfer speed so it is advisable to check in advance if the device is up to the requirement or not.

The external device must be capable of writing at a speed of at least 220 megabytes (MB) per second. However, if a slower external drive is connected, a Slow Recording Speed message may pop up.

Based on these requirements, there are several drives that appear to theoretically work with the above-mentioned feature, but it is crucial to note that the 220 megabytes per second speed must be sustained, not just a burst speed.

Keeping in mind, it’s not a good idea to plug in an SD card reader or rely on cheap USB thumb drives as these drives operate slower than advertised speed which can result in choppy recording and dropped frames.

Furthermore, the external drive must be formatted with either APFS or exFAT, and it should not be password-protected.

Crucial X8

The 4.3-inch in length and 2.1-inch in width easily pocketable external drive – Crucial X8 – is a durable external drive with a durable anodized aluminum unibody core design that can survive a 7.5-foot drop and extreme hot temperatures, shock, and vibrations.