There’s nothing like the look and feel of real leather. Apple bungled their move away from leather iPhone cases with the introduction of the iPhone 15 in September 2023, but truth be told, the official iPhone cases’ leather quality had been slipping for a few years by that point.
Luckily for the rest of us, a few manufacturers had been perfecting leather phone cases for years. The market’s best leather iPhone case makers have only gotten better at their game since then. Here are two of my favorites.
Videos by VICE
This iPhone 17 Case Is Better than Finewoven
Had Apple wanted to introduce a more environmentally friendly substitution for leather, it could’ve chosen any number of the very convincing “vegan” leather options the automotive industry has been churning out in recent years.
I’ve sat on seats in new cars that were so convincing, I thought I was sitting on real leather until I looked up the specifications. Why couldn’t Apple give us that instead of the dreadful FineWoven fabric cases? Mine started going bald in a matter of months from the lightest of wear and tear.
These genuine leather cases are more durable. Far more durable. I’ve used Mujjo for years, beginning with an iPhone XR in October 2018. I’ve got one now on my iPhone 15 Pro, having cycled through a couple of poorer-quality leather cases that bled their black dye.
The Mujjo’s leather looks and feels good, not just for a phone case but for any kind of leather goods. And I’m a guy who’s picky about his leather boots and leather jackets. The Mujjo’s metal buttons are easy to push, with solid button presses that register far better than those cases that just clumsily cover the iPhone’s buttons with a layer of leather.
Bullstrap is another very high-end iPhone case maker. Its leather is even more finely finished, with even more of that varied grain that leatherheads go wild for. At $99, it’s… well, it’s crazy money. If you’re one to keep your phone for years, though, then it’s a justifiable buy.
And it’ll shrug off any normal wear and tear, so it looks (and feels) as good as new for a long time to come.
More
From VICE
-
Heather McLaughlin/WWE via Getty Images -
Screenshot: PlayStation -
Yeah, I know it looks the same as the old one, but this is the new AirTag – (Credit: Apple) -
(Photo by Matthias Nareyek/Getty Images)
