Verdict
The Kingston Dual Portable SSD isn’t trying to be everything for everyone. Instead, it targets creators, professionals, and power users who value portability, cross-device compatibility, and speed in equal measure. Yes, the current pricing landscape makes it feel expensive, but the convenience of its dual Type-C design and its fast, reliable performance go a long way toward justifying the ask. If your workflow spans phones, tablets, and laptops, and especially if you work with large media files, this tiny drive punches well above its size.
The Good
- Excellent cross-device compatibility
- Fast real-world transfer speeds
The Bad
- Pricing feels steep
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Design
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Functionality
While reviewing storage devices in 2026, there’s no doubt that we will all be forced to address the rather large elephant in the room. I’m talking, of course, about the spike in prices of these products.
RAM units and storage devices of all shapes and sizes have seen almost a twofold increase in their prices. And the Kingston Dual Portable SSD with 1TB of storage isn’t immune to that.
That said, this new product is clearly aimed at a very specific audience. It features a Type-C connector on both ends, neatly solving compatibility issues whether you’re working with smartphones, tablets, MacBooks, or Windows laptops.
Only users with older iPhones and iPads stuck on Lightning have something to complain about, though they’re probably already coming to terms with the cost of not upgrading.
On paper, the Kingston Dual Portable SSD sounds like a neat device, but its price tag of ₹32,000 (selling on Amazon for ₹23,759) looks rather steep. The real question is whether it lives up to those expectations.
Design
Back when I built my first PC in 2006, it had all of 40GB of hard drive space, which was more than enough for my pirated games, Photoshop projects, and just about everything else.
If someone had told me then that I’d one day carry a storage device with nearly 2,400 percent more capacity in the ticket pocket of my jeans, I wouldn’t have believed them.
Yet here we are. Times have changed dramatically, and today you can carry 1TB of storage in something that looks no larger than a thumb drive. There’s even a 2TB version available for those who really want to push the envelope.
What stands out most is the simplicity of the design. The drive is tiny, lightweight, and refreshingly no-nonsense. There are no cables to remember or misplace. Just plug it in and get to work.
Although I must say that the caps on both ends can be a minor annoyance to keep track of.
But it’s the product’s minimalism that pays off in real-world workflows. During one editing session, my video editor was cutting footage directly off the Kingston Dual Portable SSD when he realised he needed a few clips from his phone.
He unplugged the drive from his laptop, connected it to his phone, transferred the files, and was back on his system within minutes. That kind of seamless handoff is exactly what this form factor enables. Its compact size also makes it a particularly handy companion for iPhone videographers shooting Apple ProRes footage.
Functionality
Where the Kingston Dual Portable SSD really earns its keep is in day-to-day file transfers, especially when you start throwing large files at it.
With USB 3.2 Gen 2 support, Kingston claims read speeds of up to 1,050MB/s and write speeds of up to 950MB/s, and in real-world usage, those numbers translate into genuinely time-saving performance.
It’s fast enough to change how you think about external storage, because waiting for files to copy simply stops being part of the workflow.
The speed also makes it viable to edit directly off the drive. During video editing sessions, timelines load quickly, scrubbing feels responsive, and preview renders don’t suffer from the stuttering typically associated with slower portable SSDs or traditional pen drives.
On smartphones and tablets, the experience is equally fluid. Copying a 5GB ProRes clip from an iPhone to the Kingston Dual Portable SSD takes only about 1.5 minutes, making it a practical on-the-go backup solution for mobile creators.
What’s equally important is consistency. The drive doesn’t dramatically slow down after the first few transfers, and thermals remain well under control thanks to the modest power draw of the compact form factor.
Whether you’re shuttling files between a phone and a laptop, backing up footage in the field, or working directly off the drive, the Kingston Dual Portable SSD feels less like an accessory and more like an extension of your primary storage.