I hate covering up my iPhones. They’re great looking devices and to cover up that design with a hunk of cheap plastic just seems wrong. I wanted something that looked and felt high end. My black leather and gold studded Apple Watch band from Bezels and Bytes was the perfect style guide. Black leather with my gold iPhone. That’s a design I could get behind.
I was considering Apple’s Black Leather iPhone XS case. However, I wasn’t a huge fan of the leather iPhone X case. It didn’t wear as well as leather should, becoming discolored rather than getting a nice patina. Furthermore, it fell apart a bit on the corners. However, I considered that, because I’d be getting the black leather one, the patina issue would at least be better than the red leather one. Perhaps it would be worth it?
I still have my red leather iPhone X case, but I can’t use it with my iPhone XS because the camera moved slightly. Apple made the camera opening so small I couldn’t use it anymore. Furthermore, I wouldn’t be able to fit my phone loop through the opening. So, I went with a different case.
Now I regret that.
I assumed I may be trading in quality to save $10 over the Apple case. I didn’t realize how much I was trading in.
I went with the Case-Mate Barely There Leather case for the iPhone XS. It’s a thin leather case for the iPhone XS with a sizable camera opening. I thought it would be perfect.
I was wrong.
In This Article:
Protection: 3.5 / 5
The case is slim, but ask any motorcycle rider, leather is protective. The leather on the Case-Mate case is considerably thinner than the leather on the Apple leather case though. In fact, I don’t think it’ll offer very significant protection over a plain plastic case with a slight rubber coating for grip. The leather is so thin, in fact, that, after just one drop, it rubbed off. The leather will offer more protection than your typical slim plastic case, but not much.
The sides and top edges, including the buttons, are covered on the iPhone XS version, but the bottom is open. Case-Mate uses a slightly different version for the iPhone XS Max and other phones, so be sure to check the listing before you buy if you need all around protection. Honestly, your biggest danger is drops, and, for most drops, this case will be sufficient.
Looks: 3 / 5
The three Case-Mate iPhone case colors
Leather looks good. I’m an occasional vegetarian (no, I don’t know what that means either), so I hate to admit it, but leather looks really good. It’s a classic, timeless, beautiful look. I’ve worn faux (PU) leather jackets and clothes before, and my Kindle case is made of fake leather. There’s nothing inherently wrong with fake leather. It brings the textured look of leather without any of the cruelty. Sure, it doesn’t wear like real leather. It never has the smell of real leather, and, sometimes, depending on the quality of the PU leather, it doesn’t have the high-quality feel of real leather. The Case-Mate Barely There Leather iPhone XS case uses genuine leather.
But it could have fooled me.
If you look closely at the leather on the Case-Mate case, it doesn’t look like real leather. The partitions are tiny and look artificial, as though the pattern was manufactured, not grown. But it doesn’t smell like fake leather. It smells like terrible, low quality leather that has been treated questionably. My phone had a funk for weeks, and the inside of the case, which hasn’t been exposed to the air, still smells a little funky.
Basically, it doesn’t look like real leather up close, and it doesn’t smell like quality leather. But, at first glance, it still does look like leather, and it doesn’t look bad. That’s why I’m not rating this a 1 or 0 out of 5. It looks good, as long as you don’t look closely.
Weight: 5 / 5
“Barely There?” That’s right it’s barely there. The case is just thick enough to cover the camera on the back of your phone and wrap around the front face as well. It’s just the right thickness and weight to feel as though your phone is protected, without being overprotected. Overall, this case feels “just right.”
Ease of Use: 5 / 5
The buttons on the Apple leather iPhone XS case are metal. The buttons on the Case-Mate case are hard plastic. Still, they’re easy to use. They have a good clicky feel when you use the buttons underneath. The buttons are no more difficult to press than using the iPhone without a case.
The entire bottom of the case is open, which makes using it with docks or chargers of a variety of sizes easy, and doesn’t block the sound. I consider this the best design for the bottom of the case. You sacrifice a little protection, but you get a case that’s never in the way.
Grip: 3 / 5
The leather on this case is smooth. If you have dry hands like me, it won’t improve the grip of your iPhone the same way a rubberized case would. It is slightly better than glass and steel though. The rounded corners of the iPhone XS are squared off slightly by the case. This definitely improves your grip on your iPhone, but not as well as some other cases might.
Durability: 1 / 5
I dropped my case from about two feet in the air. It fell off my coffee table. That was enough to scuff the extremely thin leather off the case a bit. I suspect this case would look extremely beat up in just a few months. Really, it’s my fault for using it instead of keeping it in a glass box. Do not expect durability from something that seems like it had a single layer of leather painted on.
Value: 1 / 5
Smelly, extremely slim leather that looks fake and wears off easily? That’s not value. The case costs $40, and for that, you may have some buyers remorse. I’m not entirely sure if I regret buying this case, but I am sure that $40 is way too much for it. The Apple leather case uses a far nicer looking and feeling leather that’s also thicker and doesn’t have a bad odor. It costs $10 more than the Case-Mate case, but I think that’s more than worth the price.
Overall: 2.5 / 5
There’s a slight lip to protect your screen
For the quality of the leather you get with this case, it’s not worth the price. However, it’s not a terrible case. It’s just terribly expensive. I still have mixed feelings about the case. Will I keep using it? Sure. Do I feel good about buying it? Not especially. The case is just there. I don’t know if that’s buyer’s regret, but it’s definitely buyer’s apathy. Maybe that’s a kind of regret. I think if I didn’t have my phone loop, I’d just resent this case and the foolish girl who bought it.
Okay, that’s definitely buyer’s remorse.