Design, workmanship and MagSafe
The ORICO K5Mini measures just 9 x 6 x 1 centimeters and weighs only 117 grams. This makes it barely larger or heavier than a stack of business cards. Attached directly to the smartphone, it blends seamlessly into the device and appears more like an add-on than a traditional storage device.
The casing is made of a sleek aluminum alloy that feels premium and keeps the SSD pleasantly cool. This results in better heat dissipation than a conventional plastic casing, especially during extended write operations or direct video recording. The SSD is available in silver, orange, and blue, visually coordinated with the current iPhone generation.
With iPhones featuring MagSafe or compatible cases, the K5Mini adheres directly to the back of the device, making it significantly more practical for everyday use than a loose, cable-connected SSD. In our tests, it remained stable enough to stay securely in place even during movement.
For smartphones without a magnetic ring, ORICO includes a separate magnetic ring. This is glued onto the smartphone case, thus also enabling magnetic attachment.
Connection and compatibility
The ORICO K5Mini uses USB-C (3.2 Gen 1) as its interface and is recognized by compatible devices via plug-and-play. No additional software is required.
Support is provided to, among others:
iPhones with USB-C (from iPhone 15)
Android smartphones with USB-C
Tablets
Windows, macOS and Linux systems
For older iPhones with a Lightning connector, ORICO recommends its own LC10 Lightning adapter. According to ORICO, adapters from other manufacturers are not supported, which should be taken into account before purchasing.
Transfer rates and practice performance
ORICO specifies maximum transfer rates of up to 460 MB/s for the K5Mini. Similar values were confirmed in a test on a HONOR Magic 6 Pro (USB 3.2 Gen 1), achieving sequential write and read speeds of approximately 200 MB/s and 356 MB/s respectively.
While this is significantly below the performance of classic NVMe solutions, it is perfectly adequate for everyday mobile use.
Whether you're saving 4K videos directly to the SSD, creating backups of your photo gallery, or editing media directly from the drive, the speed is adequate. Only on the new one HONOR Magic 8 Pro (USB 3.2 Gen 1) surprisingly did not recognize the SSD.
Variants, availability and price
The ORICO K5Mini is available in three storage sizes:
480 GB - approx. €69,99
512 GB - approx. €79,99
1 TB - approx. 199,99 euros
We tested the 512 GB version. However, at the time of publication, this version was only available in limited quantities. Alternatively, the virtually identical 480 GB or 1 TB versions can be used, which are technically and visually indistinguishable.
