Portable SSDs have become small enough to disappear into a bag, but using one with a phone can still leave you juggling a drive, cable, and mounting hardware. That’s particularly awkward when recording video while walking around or using a compact mobile rig.
Price: TBD (Coming Soon)
Where to Buy: Lexar
Lexar’s new Muse Ultra-Slim Portable SSD is designed around that problem. Introduced at IFA 2026, the Muse combines a card-like aluminum SSD with a magnetic mounting system intended to keep external storage close to your phone instead of dangling from a cable.
Lexar calls the Muse the world’s thinnest portable SSD. That’s a manufacturer claim rather than something we’ve independently verified. The dimensions are more concrete: the drive measures 80 × 48mm, reaches 3.8mm at its thickest point, and tapers to 1mm around the edges.
An SSD Designed to Sit Behind Your Phone
Most portable SSDs work with phones, but many were designed primarily as laptop accessories. Even a compact drive can become cumbersome when you have to figure out where to put it while recording.
Lexar takes a different approach with the Muse. The company says its aluminum enclosure uses an ultra-thin PCB architecture, high-density NAND stacking, and an integrated internal structure to reduce thickness.
The more interesting part is how it connects. Lexar’s SnapLink Magnetic Cable uses spring-loaded contacts and N52 neodymium magnets to align the connection. A separate magnetic sleeve holds the Muse against the back of compatible MagSafe iPhones.
That could turn the SSD and phone into a more manageable package. Instead of having a conventional drive hanging from a USB-C cable, the storage can sit against the device while you’re recording.
We haven’t tested the Muse, however, so we can’t say how securely the magnetic system holds during walking, handheld recording, or repeated repositioning. Specifications alone can’t answer that.
Up to 1,050MB/s Isn’t the Whole Story
Lexar rates the Muse for sequential read speeds of up to 1,050MB/s and sequential writes of up to 1,000MB/s. Those are manufacturer figures, and actual performance will depend on the host device, connection, workload, and other conditions.
More important is what that performance enables. Lexar promotes the Muse for direct Apple ProRes recording, including up to 4K at 120 fps, with compatible iPhones and supported recording configurations. Instead of filling the phone’s internal storage and transferring footage later, supported workflows can record directly to the SSD. That’s useful because high-bitrate ProRes footage can consume storage quickly.
Direct recording also removes a transfer step. When you’re finished, the footage is already on removable storage that can be connected to another compatible device for editing or backup.
The performance figures still need independent testing. They tell us what Lexar says the drive can achieve under its test conditions, not what every phone or computer will deliver.
Automatic Backup Gives the Muse Another Job
The Muse isn’t intended solely for video recording. Through the Lexar App, the company says users can automatically back up photos and videos to the drive. That could be useful while traveling, particularly if you want another copy of your media without waiting for a cloud upload or pulling out a laptop. You could shoot during the day, move your media onto the Muse, then connect the SSD to another compatible device later.
Compatibility requires some attention. Lexar lists support across USB-C devices including iPhone, iPad, and computers, but specific features depend on the connected hardware. MagSafe mounting requires compatible equipment, while external ProRes recording depends on the iPhone model and recording mode.
Buying the Muse doesn’t give every USB-C iPhone identical recording capabilities. The phone remains the limiting factor for features such as high-resolution, high-frame-rate ProRes capture.
512GB and 1TB Are the Initial Choices
Lexar plans to offer the Muse in 512GB and 1TB capacities. Those capacities should provide plenty of room for ordinary photo backups and file transfers, but creators shooting large video projects may need to think carefully about capacity. High-bitrate footage can consume hundreds of gigabytes much faster than ordinary smartphone photos and compressed video.
Lexar hasn’t announced pricing yet, leaving one of the biggest buying questions unanswered. A thin aluminum enclosure and custom magnetic connection are useful only if the price makes sense against more conventional portable SSDs.
The drive is not yet available. Lexar says the Muse is expected to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2026 rather than being available to purchase today.
Who Is the Lexar Muse For?
The Muse looks most interesting for someone who uses a compatible iPhone for serious video recording and wants to simplify an external-storage setup. Its appeal isn’t simply its claimed transfer speeds. The thin aluminum body, magnetic sleeve, SnapLink connection, direct ProRes support, and automatic backups are designed to make external storage less intrusive when attached to a phone.
If you mainly need portable storage for a laptop, a conventional SSD may make more sense, particularly if it offers greater capacity or better performance for the price. If you’re regularly attaching an SSD to an iPhone for video recording, the Muse is much more interesting. It addresses the physical awkwardness of that setup rather than merely shrinking another portable drive.
Price: TBD (Coming Soon)
Where to Buy: Lexar
Two questions remain: price and real-world performance. If the magnetic connection proves secure, sustained speeds hold up, and Lexar prices it competitively, the Muse could be a tidy way to add external storage to a mobile video setup.
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