Year on year, data storage manufacturers are constantly competing to cram as much data in as small a device as possible. Yesterday, SanDisk unveiled a tiny USB flash drive with a whopping 1TB of storage.

Despite the remarkable feat of fitting such a large storage capacity into a small case, SanDisk’s new device isn’t the highest capacity USB flash drive on the market. That accolade goes to Kingston’s DataTraveler Ultimate GT, available in both 1TB and 2TB. What makes SanDisks new model different, however, is its size - it’s tiny. The aforementioned Kingston models have big, clunky metal cases where the flash chips are stored. SanDisks effort, although smaller in capacity, is also much smaller in terms of the size of the outer casing.

While at the moment it is just a prototype, it's still highly commendable that SanDisk have managed to fit 1TB of flash storage into such a small casing. In addition, the USB flash drive utilises USB-C rather than USB-3 - so you'll be able to use the drive to directly transfer data to an Android phone as well as your computer or laptop, and with faster data transfer speeds, too. In terms of pricing, it's likely it will come with an incredibly hefty price tag. A full sized 1TB SSD already costs hundreds of pounds, so with all this storage in such a tiny case, it won't come cheap. Three currently no word on when - or even if - it will appear on the shelves, since it is just a prototype at this stage. 

Image via The Verge