External storage with banana flavor…
Peely superfans will want to queue up for Fortnite’s latest collaboration: SanDisk has teamed up with the gaming giant for fruit-flavored versions of its USB flash drive and portable SSD, and each contains an exclusive in-game item to to show. during your next Victory Royale.
The Western Digital-owned storage specialist also gave some love to mobile content creators at this year’s CES, with a MagSafe-compatible external SSD.
But it was the banana-inspired duo that first caught my eye. The pocket-sized portable SSD has a contrasting blue carrying handle and Peely’s distinctive emoticon-style face – which isn’t so offensive to Fortnite that non-gamers will be put off picking one up.
SanDisk has a bunch of planned capacities up to 2TB. The portable SSD works well with PlayStation and Xbox consoles as well as Macs and PCs, and can handle read speeds of up to 800MB/ s via a USB 3.2 Gen 2 connection. Fortnite players receive a code to unlock an in-game pickaxe. Prices start from €100.99 for 1TB of storage and pre-orders are currently open on the Sandisk website.
The corresponding USB stick gets in-game swappable packaging. I’m a little surprised that SanDisk is sticking with USB-A rather than USB-C, but it makes sense seeing that most consoles of the current generation have more Type A connections than Type C. Read speeds here reach 130 MB/s over USB 3.2 Gen 1, and there is a choice of capacities of 64, 128 and 256 GB. It’s on sale now, with prices starting at just €14.99 for the 64 GB version.
The new SanDisk Creator Phone SSD with MagSafe, meanwhile, may be a little fiddly – but it will surely come in handy for mobile creators. It magnetically attaches to the back of any MagSafe-enabled phone or phone case, with a loop-through USB-C cable delivering write speeds of up to 950MB/s and read speeds of 1000MB /s depending on the handset.
If you have a newer iPhone Pro, you’ll be able to record ProRes 4K 60fps video directly to the SSD, which can hold 1TB or 2TB of footage. The silicone case offers reassuring protection against three-metre drops, and the whole thing is IP65 water and dust resistant, so a short shower or fall in the dirt won’t spell disaster.
