By Jason Snell
October 9, 2014 3:54 PM PT
A leather-clad robotic core
Note: This story has not been updated for several years.
I was listening to this week’s Accidental Tech Podcast when I discovered that Marco Arment’s take on the iPhone 6 in one key area is identical to mine. And though I know that the plural of anecdote is not _data_1, I think it’s interesting:
Neither Marco nor I have ever used iPhone cases, and yet both of us are interested in using a case on the iPhone 6:
I still don’t have a case on my phone yet, but I picked up Tiff’s a couple of times and… it feels glorious. Like, “Oh my god, I need this,” with the Apple leather case on it. That is how I want this phone to feel—it improves so many things.

I’m with Marco. I have always appreciated using my iPhones as they were born, a naked robotic core with no adornment. And I’ve never dropped one. But I’ve been using an Apple iPhone 6 leather case for the last couple of weeks, and really liking it.
Yes, it’s true—the curved glass on the iPhone 6 screen is glorious, and the case completely blunts that feature. However, the leather also makes the entire device more grippable.
I was no fan of Apple’s iPhone 5 cases (the leather models were untextured and boring and hard to put on and take off), but the iPhone 6 leather case feels good and looks good. And it’s potentially a style upgrade: If you don’t like the antenna cut-outs on the back side of the phone, no problem—they’re covered up by a leather back embossed with the Apple logo. And the case lets your phone sit perfectly flat, if you’re bugged by the fact that the iPhone’s camera sticks out.
And as a fan of the deep, dark black color scheme of the original iPhone 5, I can get a darker phone by wrapping my Space Gray iPhone 6 in black (or in my case, midnight blue) leather. It’s a good look. I can’t guarantee that I won’t ditch the case and go back to the robotic core eventually, but I believe this is the longest I’ve ever kept a case on my iPhone.
If you appreciate articles like this one, support us by becoming a Six Colors subscriber. Subscribers get access to an exclusive podcast, members-only stories, and a special community.