iFixit Gets Closer Look at Apple's Maligned FineWoven iPhone 15 Case With Teardown

[EDS66]

I'm glad theyre switching away from leather. it always seemed odd an environmentally conscious company would promote leather...although they did have great leather products. this new material is interesting, it feels great, dont know about longevity but its not bad. they can possibly learn from car manufactures on other synthetic materials like synthetic leathers. the VW synthetic leather isn't bad but I'm not familiar with its components if theres anything terribly bad (partial leather or plastics). but so far I like the fine woven material...might not be better than leather product wise.

Yes, VW's synthetic leather, called leatherette, is fantastic. I had a GLI with leatherette, and it felt more supple and looked better than the leather in the GTI. I Agee 100 precent. Why not make leatherette (or some other derivative) cases. That would satisfy everyone. I think there is too much groupthink at Apple these days resulting in harebrained manufacturing decisions like this one.

 

[PantherKang]

Looks like it’s back to Noreve. https://www.noreve.com/en/

Have a good trip.

 

[no_idea]

This is one of the worst products Apple made in recent times. Overpriced, low quality, low durability, bad looking, cheap looking

lol…sorry you don’t have so many other options for a case…oh wait…u do

 

[Imperial926]

Have a good trip.

Not far for me!

 

[klrobinson999]

Just buy the Silicone case this year. That would send the biggest message to Apple.

 

[bushman4]

Plenty of leather cases to be found on the web
Apples decision to go with ‘fine woven’ poor and shameful’ at best
It’s actually an assault on consumer intelligence as this product will fail to protect your device will not hold up to everyday wear and tear and to be blunt
Trash
In NYC most of the cases in the store I was in were damaged with scratches
Good move APPLE! Changing something that was loved to garbage

 

[Crowbot]

Good leather that is maintained will outlast these plastic cases.

Yes but it will likely outlast the phone more quickly.

 

[k1121j]

It’s a win win for apple. Cheaper to make sells for the same price. Under the cloak of going green.

 

[insoft.uk]

How ironic, one buys a case to protect their precious iPhone from getting scratched marks scuffed and Apple answer is a case that you also have to protect from scratches marks scuffed so the case protection needs a protection 🤦‍♂️

 

[Greenmeenie]

Good leather that is maintained will outlast these plastic cases.

As far as sourcing the leather it’s most often a byproduct of the meat industry.

While I am a vegetarian and hate the idea of killing an animal I am not in favor of legislating the meat industry out of business nor am I in favor of lab grown “meat”.

If Apple was truly concerned about the environment they would provide software updates or at least security updates for the hundreds of thousands of pieces of functioning hardware that they have deemed obsolete.

Furthermore more they could significantly reduce electronic waste by selling user upgradeable hardware.

By product or not, Apple removing themselves from being associated with that unethical & pollutive industry is a good thing. If you don’t wanna celebrate that, especially as a vegetarian, I don’t know what to tell ya. 🤷‍♂️

 

[imtoretto]

the same D*mb people that bought this case is the same D*mb people that bought the 20 dollar cloth...... smh

 

[Cunir]

Maybe it's all a clever plan to shift the last of those iPod socks, as FineWoven case protectors

 

[ProfessionalFan]

it always seemed odd an environmentally conscious company would promote leather.

leather is very sustainable so this does not compute

@nattK you disliked this post but I don't see a rebuttal. Just wondering if you could please enlighten me on what I was wrong about here. Thank you.

@ZMacintosh same question. Thanks.

 

[ChibaCityBlues]

The most Apple move possible:

Make a Phone case that needs additional protection.

Next year we will see a chemical that protects said protection.

 

[ohthehorror]

FFS!!! Vote with your wallet. Don’t like the case, don’t buy it. Stop the whining over something you can control.

 

[JimmyHook]

Yeah, I’m going to state the obvious here. Leather needs to stop being a thing. Our planet matters more than our aesthetic tastes. That being said, we also have to get used to the idea that many materials we will use to replace leather won’t be as resistant to wear and tear. It’s a trade off. I also purchased a Fine Woven case. Why? Because I’m not a fragile narcissist who needs things to be “pretty”. Comfort matters far more to me, and these cases are extremely comfortable to hold.

 

[Tagbert]

FFS!!! Vote with your wallet. Don’t like the case, don’t buy it. Stop the whining over something you can control.

Welcome to this forum. As a new member you will find a wide range of information and opinions posted by other members. Some of it is actually even fact based. Please enjoy yourself but do not be surprised if you experience occasional frustration. Beware of any consistant, logical arguments by members as they are likely to be bots. 😊

 

[Crowbot]

Yeah, I’m going to state the obvious here. Leather needs to stop being a thing. Our planet matters more than our aesthetic tastes. That being said, we also have to get used to the idea that many materials we will use to replace leather won’t be as resistant to wear and tear. It’s a trade off. I also purchased a Fine Woven case. Why? Because I’m not a fragile narcissist who needs things to be “pretty”. Comfort matters far more to me, and these cases are extremely comfortable to hold.

For me, it's protection. So I have a heavy duty silicone case with a cover (UAG Metropolis). I don't hold my phone in my hand constantly like I see all around so feel is less important.

 

[ikramerica]

Yes, VW's synthetic leather, called leatherette, is fantastic. I had a GLI with leatherette, and it felt more supple and looked better than the leather in the GTI. I Agee 100 precent. Why not make leatherette (or some other derivative) cases. That would satisfy everyone. I think there is too much groupthink at Apple these days resulting in harebrained manufacturing decisions like this one.

Mercedes used to make leather a very expensive option with "MBTex" the standard material in the USA, and even 40 years ago, you wouldn't know it wasn't leather unless you compared it to the more expensive leather they used as an upsell. Compared to the leather in many other brands, MBTex is better feeling.

As for VW, I agree, have had both real and fake VW leather and there isn't much of a difference. In fact, I think long term, the leatherette is better because the leather starts to get an old smell if left in the hot sun every day. Leatherette doesn't.

 

[H. Flower]

It very well could fall apart quickly. Too quick to say either way. People shouldn’t be comparing it to leather and expecting the same feel and durability and many are. That is why many are disappointed. And they can thank their bad reasoning for feeling let down.

People are directly comparing these to the leather cases because Apple replaced the leather cases with Finewoven at the same price point.

And customers are making a big deal out of their discontent because Apple themselves made a big deal out of Finewoven in the presentation.

 

[canyonblue737]

I’ve been using my 15 Pro with FineWoven non-stop for over 24 hours so far. It looks and feels fantastic to me, I know it is subjective but I think overall would be popular… IF people feel like it holds up. Based on early forced testing it seems like this is likely to be damaged or look bad quickly but so far so good for me. I am happy I am giving it a chance and certainly I will post (and I’m sure 100s of others) what happens.

As for sustainability… I’ve heard vegan or fake leather is actually really bad for the environment due to chemicals involved so perhaps that’s why Apple didn’t go the “fake” route.

 

[tolsen718]

I am really not happy with the FineWoven case. Feels cheap.

I've ordered a leather case from Mujjo. Can't wait for it to arrive!

 

[zapmymac]

I appreciate Apple trying new case materials. Time will tell wither or not this version of this material works out or not.

I have used Apple’s leather cases, but all began to unglue themselves in the corners in less than 10 days, I returned them all.

The hard plastic oem case was way too slippery. Returned.

I loved loved loved their iPhone 4 bumper cases! Durability wise, they were okay.

In general, I like thin/slim cases.

 

[hm42]

My iPhone 12 Pro leather case already did outlive the iPhone. Three years of heavy use and slight wear and patina on the corners. Doesn't look like new any more but the wear has just made it look almost better. The leather ages well. Best case so far.

FineWoven case after two days:
1) The material feels good to hold. Grip is holding well even with moist hands.
2) Much weaker magnet connection than leather cases. Apple Wallet doesn't stick as well as previous models with leather cases. Weaker connection with MagSafe charger is also easy to notice.
3) Apple Wallet already did leave markings to the case after 40 hours.

It's almost like leather jacket vs technical sports jacket. Leather is supposed to last longer.

 

[Frankfurt]

Lots of noise… I got the blue fine woven case with the Blue Titanium Pro Max and its looks and feels great. Will it pass the test of time… we’ll see.