Ultra-thin portable SSD arriving soon with 0.15-inch thick chassis

It appears that Apple is no longer the only well-known consumer technology company that is obsessed with thinness and proprietary ports. Lexar has introduced the Muse - as the name suggests, a product that is primarily intended to be as visually striking as possible.

The Muse happens to be a portable SSD, which will be available in 512 GB and 1 TB capacities. According to Lexar, the Muse portable SSD will be the thinnest of its kind, measuring in at just 3.8 mm or 0.15 in at its thickest point, and a shocking 1 mm or 0.039 inch towards the edges.

Lexar claims that the 26.5-gram (0.93 ounce) Muse SSD features a custom-made ultra-thin PCB, which is rather unsurprising given the unique form factor. There do not appear to be any major performance downgrades compared to most other consumer portable SSDs, with Lexar claiming 1,050 MB/s read speeds and 1,000 MB/s write speeds.

It is unclear whether or not the SSD will have any DRAM for proper sustained performance.

However, there is indeed a major downside to all of this. The Lexar Muse SSD simply does not feature any USB-C ports, with the product being dependent on Lexar's proprietary SnapLink magnetic cable, which attaches through a spring-loaded interface on the back of the SSD. Thankfully, the other side of this proprietary cable is USB-C. 

Folks with modern iPhones will be pleased to note that the Lexar Muse SSD comes with a sleeve with MagSafe support, allowing it to attach to the back of most modern iPhones, or even MacBooks (any laptop with a magnetic surface).

Lexar has yet to reveal pricing details of the Muse portable SSD. Given the current insanity surrounding DRAM and NAND prices, the SSD is definitely expected to command a hefty price tag. The product is expected to hit shelves sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.

Folks who couldn't care less about visual appeal can check out something like the Samsung T7 SSD currently available for $264.55 on Amazon.