SanDisk iXpand USB Flash Key for iPhone and iPad

SanDisk Corporation announced iXpand flash drive the company’s first USB flash drive designed for iPhone and iPad.

“According to IDC, nearly three-quarters of all images are now captured on smartphones and tablets¹,” said Dinesh Bahal, VP, product marketing, SanDisk. “With this significant increase in mobile-generated content, consumers are looking for easy ways to manage it all. In fact, our research shows that 82% of U.S. smartphone users find transferring photos, videos, music and other files to be very important to them². We created the iXpand Flash Drive to offer consumers a quick and safe way to move their favorite content between devices so it’s available when and where they want it.”

The iXpand is a solution that  transfers photos and videos from an iPhone or iPad to a Mac or PC without cables, Internet connections, or bandwidth limitations. In addition, it maintains the original photo or video resolution quality.

The iXpand sync app is intuitive, creating a seamless user experience. It launches when the iXpand is plugged into an iPhone or iPad and can be configured to sync photos and videos from the camera roll to the drive. In addition, users can store their movies and play them directly from the drive on their iPhone or iPad. Most popular movie formats³, including non-native and PC-friendly ones, like AVI & WMV, are supported — saving time, effort and complexity of converting video formats.

The iXpand sync app also enables cross-platform encryption⁴, offering consumers the ability to transfer and access their sensitive files from iPhone, iPad, PC and Mac computers. Using the iXpand sync app, files can be password-protected on the drive directly from an iPhone or iPad and then decrypted on a Mac or PC and vice versa. The iXpand provides users with peace of mind that their files are always secure, while offering flexibility to protect data on the go.

The iXpand Flash Drive is available in 16, 32 and 64GB capacities and is compatible with iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 2, iPad mini running iOS 8 or iOS 7. It was designed can connect directly to iPhone or iPad without first removing the protective case. The drive features a metal exterior which adds to its durability. It comes with a two-year limited warranty.

The iXpand Flash Drive is available in the U.S. at Best Buy stores and at BestBuy.com since November 16, Best Buy stores will exclusively offer the 32GB iXpand Flash Drive at an MSRP of $79.99. The iXpand Flash Drive is available at SanDisk.com, and is coming soon to select retailers globally. The 16GB and 64GB capacities will be available at $59.99 and $119.99, respectively.

The iXpand sync app is available on the App Store for iPhone or iPad.

1 Source: Worldwide Digital Image 2014-2018 Forecast: The Image Capture and Share Bible (IDC #246469, February 2014)

2 Source: SanDisk consumer market survey of 1,003 participants in the USA, June 2014

3 Support for .WMV, .AVI, .MKV, .MP4, .MOV video formats. Compatible device required.

4 Password protection uses 128-bit AES encryption and is supported by iOS 7+, Mac OS X v10.6+ (Software download required for Mac, see) Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.