By Shelly Brisbin
September 28, 2023 2:46 PM PT
FineWoven hot take: It’s fine?
So it sounds like a lot of people don’t like Apple’s new FineWoven material, which is used in the company’s new iPhone 15 cases instead of leather.
FineWoven has variously been described as plasticy, tacky (usually in the materials/stickiness sense), and cheap feeling. I received a (mulberry) FineWoven case this week and clapped it onto an iPhone 15 Pro. No one should be more surprised than me to find that… get ready…
I didn’t hate it.
At first.
In my brain, I’m a lovable contrarian, always happy to talk about price and accessibility when the rest of the world is going all wobbly for a new camera system, titanium or ProMotion. I relish the space I inhabit. But I did not expect to have an opinion, contrarian or otherwise, about FineWoven.
Here is where I confess that I care about cases. My phone has two; a leather wallet case from Tucah and the Smartish Gripmunk for when I’m at home.
That’s right. I switch when I get home, just like Mr. Rogers and his sweater. Judge me if you must.
But I don’t usually buy Apple cases, because there’s no full-on wallet style, and the price for the bumper styles is too high for my taste—FineWoven definitely included. My two third-party cases equal the approximate cost of one FineWoven.
And so, when an iPhone 15 Pro accompanied by a FineWoven case came skidding into my life this week, I opened the case package first. Because drama!
Don’t expect FineWoven to feel or look like leather. It does not. But putting the case on my phone did not result in instant outrage or palpitations. It was, like the name says, fine. The sides feel good to hold—smooth, but not too slippery.
The back is a bit of another story. Dragging my nails across the material yielded a sort of rhythmic squeakiness that I suppose I meant to be reminiscent of suede. (The case did not become scratched when I did this.) This surface does seem like a potential dirt magnet, but in the day I’ve been carrying it around, the dirt seems to have remained at bay. I have not dropped it from great heights, or given it to a family pet to gnaw. My first impression of FineWoven durability, except the part that’s colored by some of the most scorching product reviews I’ve ever read, has been: It’s fine.
Some users have reported problems with the connector cutouts at the bottom of the new cases. Sure enough, the first non-Apple USB-C cable I plugged into the phone fell right out. When I took the case off, everything was great again, just as it had been with a new Apple cable that shipped with the iPhone 15 Pro. Whatever my take on the aesthetics of the case, a bad connector cutout is a stone-cold deal breaker, even though I also have a couple of MagSafe pucks in service.
My advice to any who resisted the pull of first-day ordering, and might want to go FineWoven, is to view and touch them in person before you buy one. Look at the (surely well handled) ones in an Apple Store. Roll one around on your palm. And by all means, watch the YouTube videos where people torture a $60 case, rather than the phone it’s meant to protect.
And even if you like the case, consider waiting a few weeks or months for a new supply with better connector cutouts. Fortunately, there are a lot of less expensive cases out there, though they may not provide FineWoven’s eco bonafides, and certainly don’t have the branded appeal of an Apple logo.
They just, you know, protect your phone.
[Shelly Brisbin is a radio producer and author of the book iOS Access for All. She's the host of Lions, Towers & Shields, a podcast about classic movies, on The Incomparable network.]