Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD review: A mini hub for making iPhone movies
The Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD is a drive designed for the iPhone that enables external ProRes recording, but the USB-C port allocation and locations are a little bit puzzling.
Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD attached to an iPhone
When Apple introduced the ability to capture 60fps 4K ProRes video from an iPhone to an external USB-C drive, it opened up the iPhone to be more useful for videography. The iPhone instantly became more viable as an all-in-one capture device for productions.
However, to get there, you have to connect not only storage to the iPhone, but also a way to capture audio using an external microphone, and something to power it all up. A USB-C hub can do the trick, but that becomes one more thing to connect to the entire assembly.
With its P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD, Aiffro thinks it has the most compact answer possible to the problem.
Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD review - Physical design
The P30 is a small rectangular block with a USB-C connector sticking out of the top. The idea is that you can connect the USB-C to the base of an iPhone, or a Mac or iPad for offloading data.
Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD review: It's a compact drive that connects to an iPhone's USB-C port
At 1.8 inches wide, it's narrower than the width of an iPhone, while its 1.1-inch height adds little to the overall length. The 8mm (0.3 inches) thickness is also very comparable to that of the iPhone 16 range, with it being between the thicker iPhone 16 Pro Max and the thinner iPhone 16 itself.
Made from an aluminum alloy, it's a drive that also weighs only 19 grams (0.67 ounces), which makes it highly portable, and not much of an extra weight to an iPhone. That is without connecting other items to it, however.
Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD review - Connectivity
The P30 has a total of three connections built into it. The main USB-C connector works at USB 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps, and is designed to plug right into an iPhone's base.
To one side is a USB-C socket for power adapters or battery packs running at up to 30W, so the drive and the iPhone can have power.
Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD review: A USB-C port for power next to the main USB-C connector
The positioning isn't great for directly connecting to an iPhone's base, as the socket is in the way. However, a U-shaped USB Type-C adapter wraps the drive around to the back of the iPhone, so all ports are more accessible.
The side also has a USB-C port designed for use with microphones. But not power.
This is a strange design point. Why not just have both the USB-C ports accessible without the cable adapter? Why not expose the power port, at least?
It's USB-C, in theory, one port should allow for both charging and the microphone, but our testing found that to not be the case.
Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD review - Storage
The drive uses SM2320 flash controller. Aiffro says that this is to offer both high speed and reliability, which is essential for videography purposes.
Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD review: You can plug a USB-C mic into the side.
In terms of speed, Aiffro markets the drive as having read and write speeds of up to 1,000MB/s. We didn't see this. In our testing on a Mac, we saw about 650 megabytes per second read and write.
This isn't full USB 3.2 speeds, and is closer to SATA III speeds. It's still fit for task, though.
Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD review - Good enough for video work
If you consider it as an external drive on its own, there's not a massive amount to discuss here. It's fast enough to be useful and has a decent capacity for its physical size.
I'm not fond of the USB-C port allocation and limitations on the headphone port when the iPhone is not in some kind of shooting cage, but the drive works without that cage, and without external power. Drive speed is adequate, but not blazing, and the design seems solid enough.
It's good enough. It's not fantastic, and we've seen better offerings in the class especially at the full retail price point, but it will do.
Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD pros
- Compact and light
- Enables external video recording
- Discrete USB-C ports for for mic and power, but...
Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD cons
- ... the USB-C port to power the phone is blocked without an adapter
- We've seen faster drives for the iPhone for less money
Rating: 3 out of 5
Where to buy the Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD
The Aiffro P30 3 in 1 Portable SSD is available from Aiffro directly, priced at $169 for 1TB, $269 for 2TB. The company says that these prices are because of "higher US import taxes." At press time, there is a 15% off sale on the company's site, linked above.
This is not Aiffro's fault, of course, but it does weigh on the product. It remains to be seen if that pricing will come down and be more competitive with other companies' offerings.
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