Hi and thanks in advance for the help. I have an iPhone 12 and will be giving it to my wife so I can get the 12 Pro Max. I first purchased the clear case and hated it (too slippery) and settle on the silicon case.

The leather cases weren’t available at the time, but with my phone arriving today, I’m thinking that might be the way to go. Do the Apple Leather MagSafe cases get hot/make the phone hotter? How are they for durability compared to the silicon?

Thanks for the guidance!

Bought these because my dad is giving me his 12 pro max soon and these were like 5$ a piece and I always wanted one of these cases. And the quality of these cases are TOP NOTCH. Highly recommended 😁👍🏼

Is the lip deep enough to somewhat protect the screen? How does it wear over a longer period of time?

I’m genuinely surprised at the quality of the leather cases this year. The last leather case I purchased from Apple was for the iPhone X. The cases this year feel softer, feel slimmer (thanks to the new boxy design of the phone), and the tight tolerance around the screen are great.

I bought the blue one to try out, and will be keeping it for sure! Just thought I would rely my impressions, since most stores are closed during this time, or they don’t allow for hands on time with the product.

I’ve always had the saddle leather iPhone case... they have always held up (for me). I’m WFH (even pre-covid) so outside of the case going in and out of my pocket throughout the day the case really gets no use or wear to speak of. So when I purchased my new 12 Pro Max I of course immediately grabbed the leather case (shipped prior to receiving the phone). I’ve had the phone (in case) for 2.5 weeks and this is the wear I’m already experiencing... this is ridiculous. I don’t even have this much wear on previous Apple leather cases after years of use. You can tell the case is some very VERY thin leather (type-product) almost painted onto a plastic shell. This is a joke, never again. Be forewarned, it’s not worth it.

https://i.imgur.com/DNgOsG7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XK5CPq8.jpg

I’m 2 months in with my iPhone 12 saddle brown leather case and it pretty much looks fairly mint with some patina on the edges...

Back in 2017 when I got the iPhone X, my leather case had developed a nice patina 3 weeks in... I feel like something subtle must have changed?

EDIT: I hit up apple support and basically told them I was disappointed with the quality of the case compared to the previous versions I’ve had and they quickly setup a return even though I bought it over 2 months ago....

Hello everyone, I was wondering how’s everyone’s leather cases aging and what do you think of your patinas.

In my case, this is my first iPhone, so i wouldn’t know about previous leather cases, but I used to buy leather cases for my Samsung phones, and the Blue Leather Case for my 12 Pro feels a lot like the Samsung cases. It does the job, but it doesn’t feel as premium as I thought it would.

Patina-wise, the borders and corners are getting darker, but the back is completely clean. I have this case since November, so I would have hoped to have a better patina by now lol.

How’s everyone’s experience with the Leather Cases?

I just upgraded from an iPhone X to a 13 Pro Max. The Apple leather case for the X originally took me by surprise. It was great quality leather with enough thickness to really feel like expenses weren’t spared, and it patina’d fantastically as a result. Would always recommend the leather case to my friends.

Now the 13 Pro Max leather case has once again taken me by surprise. But not in a good way this time.

It is so much flimsier than my iPhone X case, and the leather quality is absolutely laughable. It genuinely feels like something I would expect a knock off Apple leather case to feel like, based on the quality I am used to. I can only imagine how terribly this thing is going to wear and hold up, never mind whatever protection is sacrificed by being so thin and flimsy, rather than thicker, more shock absorbing leather.

Because not only did the iPhone X leather case look and feel fantastic, but it also took some of the gnarliest spills and my phone never cracked. I swore Apple engineered the hell out of even the simple products like their cases to give their customers the most protection. Not anymore.

So what the fuck? Don’t we pay the Apple tax for higher quality materials and craftsmanship than the average garbage? Or is that a thing of the past and now it’s a race to the fucking bottom to increase profits like every other shitty company?

My last five iPhones were the 6s Plus, X, XS Max, 11 Pro Max, and 12 Pro Max. For each of them, I've purchased an Apple Leather Case and enjoyed their style, feel, and and thinness. Originally, I bought the black case but I switched to brown, enticed by the potential for my cases to develop nice patina. To their credit, some of the older ones (brown and Product Red) did seem to age well. However, things changed with the case for the 12 Pro Max:

• Picture #1

• Picture #2

I purchased the case on the iPhone's release day and wow, it aged like shit. I don't know if Apple started using cheaper leather or something, but I've been extremely disappointed in how its aged this year. I still like the functionality of the case itself, so I purchased the Midnight color for my 13 Pro. No way in hell I'd buy the Golden Brown or any other light color, though.

Just wanted to share this with the sub since I often see comments about PATINA, which would be great if Apple was actually using quality leather in their products.

Trying my best to not make this a generic "what should I buy" thread. I'm hoping for some actual discussion on this. To be clear - I honestly do not want buying recommendations. At all. I want feedback on the various leather case options. Ideally, this thread can be pointed to as a reference for anyone who wants to research the various leather case offerings this generation and come to their own conclusions.

Background - when I get an iPhone I generally swap between two cases based on what I'm doing - a TPU case (I have my favorites), and a leather case. Apple's leather cases have gone downhill. In fact, you can't convince me that the 13-series cases are actually leather. It peels like crazy despite minimal use, and there has been zero patina (not a complaint, I prefer no patina, but if there's no patina after a year then it's not actual leather).

So with that in mind, for those who have a non-Apple branded leather case please provide the following information:

• Which case do you have? (brand and model) (oh, and please specify your phone!)

• If they've changed the branding or product name, what's the current equivalent product available for the 14-series?

• Why did you originally choose it over the Apple leather case?

• What do you like about the case?

• What do you dislike about the case?

To reiterate, responding with "you should buy X" is a useless and less than helpful comment. Providing the info from the above bulleted list helps not only me, but anyone else who wanders into this thread who is sick of the endless stream of Amazon referral link blog spam.