External SSD connection to iPhone 13Pro

Hi, I've got an iPhone 13Pro running iOS 16.5.1(c) and Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD formatted as exFAT.

I found this thread which is now a few years old which says much the same issue. It's locked and the system says to start a new thread to continue the discussion.

Sandisk SSD not working with IOS 14 or iP… - Apple Community

In there it suggests that you'd need to buy another Apple cable, the USB3 to Lightning cable, to enable it to work. The linked post, above, suggests you'd also need to power the highly portable external SSD. That sort of removes the utility of such portability, whether you have the power from a power pack or from an outlet.

Indeed this YouTube video, also from three years ago, shows it working with the cable that comes with the SanDisk SSD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1sXBob_uXY&t=181s

Note that the author of that video comments that he'd heard power might be needed, or something called an OTG adapter, but it really wasn't.

I'm questioning why we are told power is needed on an iPhone when it clearly wasn't in that video on an Android device.

I've been trying to connect via the USB-C to Lightning connector that came with my phone.

Is the purchase of "yet another Apple adapter" and addition of a power pack just to power my external drive really needed?

Or is there simply something that we need to change on our iPhones to allow this to function just as it does with Android as per the linked video?