The company that invented external storage for iOS.
Maktar is a digital-asset protection company headquartered in Taiwan. We invented external storage for iOS, built the Qubii automatic backup device — over 1.2 million units shipped worldwide — and are now scaling into a digital-asset protection service platform.
We’re not a 3C accessory company. We’re the people who created an entire product category.
Mactaris Chen
Forty years building on the Apple platform.
From the Apple ][+ to Apple Silicon, always a developer first — never just a user. Lived through every architecture transition: 68K → PowerPC → Intel → Apple Silicon.
2011–2013:
Three generations. One new category.
In 2011, there was no way to plug external storage into an iPhone. Apple’s iOS was a closed system. Mactaris saw the problem from a different angle than anyone else.
Used an OTG IC as an external USB controller. It worked — but the App talked to the IC through a virtual file-read/write protocol, capping performance.
IC rethought — file system moved into the App. The App was both UI and hardware driver. An embedded HTTP server enabled direct 1080p video streaming — a first for iOS accessories. Licensed to PhotoFast, this powered i-FlashDrive HD.
Mactaris didn’t file a patent. A decision he’d learn from later.
Apple set crushing power constraints for Lightning accessories — 100 mA active, 10 mA standby. No IC house in the world had a solution. Mactaris pushed three plans in parallel: Plan A built from scratch on ATMEL SAM3U (power-switching patent); Plan B with Phison flash controllers; Plan C a custom ALCOR card-reader IC. Plan C won. Maktar Inc. was incorporated in April 2014, MFi-certified.
Two products.
Two insights into "protection should be effortless."
At the time, every iOS external drive centered on a file browser. Mactaris asked: "What do people actually need?" The answer was more space for photos. Piconizer had three buttons: Backup, Browse, Restore. NT$60M+ raised on Taiwan crowdfunding, 100K+ units sold, the campaign ended early because Lightning connectors ran out. Computex Best Choice Award, Taiwan Excellence Award.
iPhone capacities kept growing; prices doubled. Everyone agreed backup mattered — yet nobody actually backed up. The team discovered MFi’s App Launch could open an App directly, with no user interaction. Qubii was built around that capability: it sits between charger and cable, the moment the phone connects, the App opens, the backup begins. 1.2M+ units shipped since May 2018, 68% of revenue from Japan. Good Design Award (2021 + 2022), Computex Jury’s Special, VGP, DGP, Taiwan Excellence.
Nine generations of in-house silicon.
Not something a single patent can replicate.
A decade of compounding firmware (iAP 1 / iAP 2 / MFi), hardware integration, software engineering, and Apple-proprietary know-how (App Launch / Role Switch / coprocessor authentication).
Three years.
Japan grew from 22% to 68%.
2020→2021: Japan revenue +251%, total +58%.
2021→2022: Japan revenue +140%, total +67%.
Established Maktar Japan G.K. with a physical office in Tokyo. A signal of long-term commitment — not testing the waters, not running through a distributor.
Yamamoto Yuka, Mitunaka Ayumi and other core members — native language, cultural fluency, local network, and customer service that meets Japanese standards.
Full Japanese FAQ, replies within 24 hours, screenshot-driven troubleshooting, every issue tracked to resolution. In Japan, customer service is the brand.
Next:
Digital-asset protection as a service.
Maktar is shifting from a hardware company into a digital-asset protection service platform. The core insight is the same one that drove Piconizer and Qubii: people know their digital memories matter, but unless the solution is effortless, they don’t act on it.
Automatic backup to local storage while charging — the Qubii experience already trusted by 1.2M+ users.
Reach your backups from anywhere via peer-to-peer connection — without uploading everything to a central cloud.
Long-term archival storage. Disaster-grade protection: even if every local device is gone, the digital assets survive.