Tag Archives: iPhone 12

Snapback’s MagSafe wallet for your iPhone 12 also comes with its dedicated AirTag slot

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SnapBack Slim Air MagSafe Wallet for Apple iPhone with AirTag

Designed so you can track your wallet if it ever gets lost (or isn’t attached to your phone), Snapback’s Slim Air wallet is all about giving you the best Apple’s ecosystem has to offer.

It’s sort of baffling that Apple wants you to track your wallet with the AirTag, but doesn’t allow you to track your MagSafe wallet. Sure, the MagSafe wallet’s designed to sit on your iPhone most of the time, but then again, it’s also something you’ll find yourself removing ever so often… especially when you need to wirelessly charge your phone, or if you want to just swiftly use the wallet without taking your entire phone out. By virtue of its slimness, the MagSafe wallet is a convenient alternative to a bifold, but it isn’t trackable… Snapback changes that.

SnapBack Slim Air MagSafe Wallet for Apple iPhone with AirTag

The Snapback Slim Air, which debuted on Kickstarter, comes made from Italian leather and is marginally wider than Apple’s own leather MagSafe card-holder/wallet. It’s large enough to hold 6 cards, a few folded bills, and the pocket on its front was designed specifically to slide an AirTag in, so you can locate the wallet when you’re in a hurry and you can’t find your stuff. It’s worth noting that the presence of an AirTag doesn’t make the wallet ‘anti-theft’ – the thief could easily pop out the cards and leave the wallet and AirTag behind – but it’s convenient if you’re the kind of person to use the wallet independently too (without snapping it to the back of your iPhone 12 every time). The Slim Air, as its name suggests, is a remarkably slick product that’s a perfect alternative to chunky bifolds. Its soft-shell leather design allows you to easily slide it into your pockets too, even without the iPhone.

SnapBack Slim Air MagSafe Wallet for Apple iPhone with AirTag

SnapBack Slim Air MagSafe Wallet for Apple iPhone with AirTag

What Snapback’s Slim Air does is integrate two of Apple’s services into a single product. It relies on MagSafe, a highlight feature of the iPhone 12, while also combining the AirTag into it. Whether you’re someone who enjoys having those two features clubbed together is entirely up to you, but for a small subset of people who just want a wallet they can track (and occasionally snap to the back of their smartphone), the Snapback Slim Air’s quite the pick. The Slim Air wallet comes made in USA, and is available in brown or black. It costs $55 (that’s about 4 bucks cheaper than Apple’s own MagSafe wallet), and you’ll need to buy the AirTag separately.

Designer: Snapback

SnapBack Slim Air MagSafe Wallet for Apple iPhone with AirTag

This iPhone 12 air cushion case provides safety + fun in one stylish package!

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The iPhone 12 has unrivaled power under the hood courtesy of the A14 chip, and when it comes to the looks, it is equally good. Apple‘s minimal aesthetics of the smartphone are a style and status statement, not meant to be hidden by a thick case. You know where I’m heading now. Smartphone cases and covers provide a level of protection from accidental falls. Still, most times, they hide the beautiful design of the iPhone – it’s always a tug of war between the protection UAG cover’s military-grade protection or the slim aesthetic ones that give perfunctory safety.

Air Case for iPhone 12 is the next design evolution in smartphone cases that detours from the current design language. The iPhone 12 case conceptualized by product designer Philipp Pisarevskiy is made up of bloated cushions to absorb the energy of the fall impact, not letting it get through to the smartphone. As a result, the case sticks to the back of the Apple iPhone, and the protruding contours help hold the smartphone with confidence when taking calls or photographs with a single-handed grip. This way, you reduce the chances of the phone accidentally slip out of your hand and land on the concrete surface!

This iPhone case is a refreshing shift from the same old boring materials like leather, plastic, fabric, or rubber. The textured pattern of the Air Case adds to the lovable design of Apple’s best phone to date. It is a way of self-expression without limiting the design of the gadget, and Philipp has achieved it immaculately. My only gripe is the level of protection when the iPhone falls on its edges (there’s a high likelihood of that), and the designer can improve the design of this phone case to address this concern!

Designer: Philipp Pisarevskiy

 

Apple’s ‘Camel Hump’ battery pack is back… this time in a wireless MagSafe avatar

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Apple MagSafe Battery Pack

You know how they say you need to learn to walk before you can learn to run? Somehow Apple’s 2015 ‘Camel Hump’ Smart Battery Case for the iPhone makes complete sense to me now. Back in 2015, it was the ‘butt’ of many a joke, as people called it all sorts of things (even comparing it to Kim Kardashian’s internet-breaking 2014 Vogue magazine cover), now it feels like it was paving the way for something greater… the MagSafe Battery Pack!

Simply put, the MagSafe Battery Pack is a neat, wireless power-bank that snaps right onto your iPhone 12-series smartphone, relying on the MagSafe feature to hold it in place while it replenishes your battery. It’s a slick, white, pocket-friendly accessory that works without needing cables or even needing to be switched on. It’s perhaps the most elegant way to charge your iPhone while on the go, and given that it comes from Apple, it just ties well into the company’s ecosystem of products.

Apple MagSafe Battery Pack

The MagSafe Battery pack comes in white with a subtle gray Apple logo on it (since it blocks the logo on your iPhone when it snaps on). It comes with a 1460 mAh battery on the inside (that can juice your iPhone up to 50%) and supplies power to your iPhone at a less-than-impressive 5W. The battery pack itself charges via a lightning port at its base and supports pass-through charging too, so you can simultaneously charge the wireless battery pack as well as your iPhone. Apple’s software cleverly manages the power delivery to both the devices, and when plugged in, bumps up the power supply to 15W-20W (depending on your charger), resulting in a faster charge. Given that it’s ultimately an Apple accessory, you can see your MagSafe Battery Pack’s overall battery level on your iPhone too (just like with other Apple products like the AirPods and Watch).

The product doesn’t come cheap, though. Apple’s priced it at $99 which seems like a lot for a 1460 mAh wireless battery pack… especially considering that third-party companies like Anker and Mophie are selling MagSafe wireless chargers with 5000 mAh batteries (that’s enough to charge your iPhone twice) for half the price. For that extra ‘Apple Tax’, it sure better come with some great features, like built-in ‘Find My’ tracking!

Designer: Apple

Apple MagSafe Battery Pack

MagSafe accessories that are the best investments of 2021 for your Apple devices!

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The arrival of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro models was accompanied by the reinvention and return of MagSafe. This lead to a whole new world of accessories being unleashed! Designers and creatives were racing to create a whole range of products for the repurposed MagSafe. And we’ve been loving every bit of it! From an aluminum MagSafe wallet that snaps onto your phone, to a pair of TWS earbuds – there’s a MagSafe accessory out there for your every need. And, we’ve curated a bunch of products that we truly believe are worth buying and investing in. This army of accessories will truly amp up your Apple experience!

The Snapods by Scendo are a pair of TWS Earbuds that come with a flat case that snaps right to the back of your phone. Building wonderfully on the capabilities of the MagSafe feature introduced in the latest iPhones, the Snapods make carrying earphones convenient. Just snap them to the back of your phone and you’ve got yourself a pair of earphones that are easy to store, quick to access, and hard to lose. The case’s design is inspired directly by where it’s located. Made to sit against the back of your phone, the Snapods case comes with a flat, wedge-shaped profile, making it easy to slip your phone into your pocket. The slim case doesn’t just dock the earphones, it charges them too, giving you an impressive 45 hours of playtime.

Meet the Fantom C, a MagSafe wallet designed to complement the Apple iPhone in durability and function. It comes machined from a Cerakoted billet of aluminum. The ceramic coating on the Aluminum makes it tougher and more abrasion-resistant, while a neat carbon-fiber finish on the surface of the wallet gives it a much more reliable and rugged appeal. Designed as a piece of EDC that pairs beautifully with your iPhone 12, the Fantom C gives you a dedicated space to store your cards right on the back of your phone. Magnets on its rear-side allow it to snap to the iPhone with a satisfying click, and at 0.31 inches (8 mm) thick, it’s marginally thicker than Apple’s own MagSafe wallet, but then again, the Fantom C is also capable of much more.

Moment, the Seattle-based accessories company specializing in phone camera gear has created a bunch of iPhone 12 series accessories that inherently have some kind of camera utility. There’s a whole bunch of cases, tripod mounts, and car vent mounts with MagSafe compatibility that add to the functionality of your Apple phone. First up, the cases come in two broader variations – a thinner version for better ergonomic feel in hand and the other, a more rugged one for more protection in event of accidental drops. All these cases have wrist strap loops and can endure a 6-foot drop. The cases priced at around $50 are compatible with the M-Series Moment lens system and they also work with the Moment Mounts. For photography addicts, Moment has a lineup of Tripod Mounts that have a very strong magnetic system for extra strength. These mounts work even without the case and are compatible with ¼-inch to 20-inch tripods, so you are good to go with any tripod.

The CLIP is a wireless power bank designed to snap onto the back of your phone either using MagSafe (for newer iPhone models) or using an adhesive clip (for older iPhones and Android devices). In doing so, the device aligns with the smartphone’s wireless charging coil, allowing it to charge the phone’s battery on the fly, without any cables. However, the CLIP doesn’t just add an extra external battery to the back of your phone, it also adds a kickstand that can be used in both landscape and portable formats. A metal component (shaped sort of like a carabiner clip) wraps around the power bank and can be opened out to let you prop your phone vertically or horizontally while it’s charging.

I wouldn’t outright call Grovemade old-fashioned, but rather I’d say their work is a confluence of sensibilities and materials. Primarily relying on wood and metal to craft their products, Grovemade’s designs boast of an old-world charm that’s also intertwined with modern minimalism. Take for instance the Wood MagSafe Stand, available in both Walnut and Maple variants. The stand, which sports a wooden halo mounted on a steel base, allows you to slip your iPhone MagSafe wireless charger in, routing the cable from the bottom. It then gives your iPhone 12 a nice, wooden armchair to hang out on, letting you rest it in either landscape or portrait while it charges.

The return of MagSafe has unleashed the creatives and accessory companies are racing to make the most of this feature. Front of the race is Belkin’s MagSafe Car Vent Mount PRO for iPhone 12 that lets you safely mount your iPhone 12 and keep it in your view – be it landscape or portrait mode. Best of all, the powerful magnet offers a seamless, one-handed use that keeps you driving stress-free!

Modeled on the concept of the MagSafe charger, the MagRig works with all Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C devices, which means not only does it bring the magnetic charging port back to the MacBook, it also works with the iPad Pro, most Android phones, the Nintendo Switch, and any device that use a Type-C connector. The two-part adapter attaches itself to both the port as well as the jack, giving you the satisfying magnetic click whenever you plug a device in. The magnetic connection even helps prevent damage caused by accidental cable tugs. Instead of your phone, iPad, or laptop flying right off the table because your dog snagged the wire while running around the house, the MagRig detaches with graceful choreography, keeping your gadgets safe from physical damage.

With a 100% recycled plastic body and a lifetime warranty, the Gomi Wireless Mag Charger helps reduce plastic waste as well as e-waste. UK-based sustainable design studio Gomi first hit the airwaves back in 2019 with its Bluetooth speaker designed entirely out of plastic waste. The company sought to exclusively use non-recyclable plastics (single-use plastic bags, bubble wrap, etc.) that would otherwise be dumped in oceans, sent to landfills, or incinerated. Working together with small businesses, global corporations, and recycling plants, Gomi developed a way to reuse this non-recyclable plastic as a raw material. Using the natural color variation between the different plastic products, the molding process helped create a marbled pattern that was unique to each device, allowing Gomi to effectively recycle the plastic and upscale it into a wonderful product.

Vulcan isn’t a replacement for wireless charging but is just a remarkably better cable with truly unique features that are designed to work universally across all your devices. Designed to power everything from your Xbox controller to your laptop, the Vulcan cable comes with the ability to deliver up to 100W of power and connects to your devices using a series of magnetic pins. Just plug these magnetic pins into the charging ports of your devices, and they create an interface for Vulcan to snap to, quite like the MagSafe connectors you’d see in MacBooks from before 2016. Different magnetic pins allow you to connect the same cable to a variety of devices. MicroUSB pins work perfectly for gaming controllers and Bluetooth speakers, while the Lightning pin lets you charge the iPhone and your AirPods.

The Belkin BOOST↑CHARGE PRO MagSafe 3-in-1 Wireless Charger charges all of your Apple devices in one go! You can use this super fast magnetic stand to charge your iPhone, Airpods and even your Apple Watch simultaneously. Amped with a clean and modern look, this MagSafe accessory provides a wireless charge of up to 15W. Quite fast, no?

This Earth Day, grab yourself a MagSafe wireless charger made from 100% recycled plastic

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With a 100% recycled plastic body and a lifetime warranty, the Gomi Wireless Mag Charger helps reduce plastic waste as well as e-waste.

UK-based sustainable design studio Gomi first hit the air-waves back in 2019 with its Bluetooth speaker designed entirely out of plastic waste. The company sought to exclusively use non-recyclable plastics (single-use plastic bags, bubble wrap, etc.) that would otherwise be dumped in oceans, sent to landfills, or incinerated. Working together with small businesses, global corporations, and recycling plants, Gomi developed a way to reuse this non-recyclable plastic as a raw material. Using the natural color variation between the different plastic products, the molding process helped create a marbled pattern that was unique to each device, allowing Gomi to effectively recycle the plastic and upscale it into a wonderful product. Gomi recently debuted a new product using this marbled recycled plastic – a MagSafe-compatible 15W wireless charger that works twice as fast as regular lightning cables, charging your iPhone and Apple accessories while helping take plastic waste out of the earth!

Each Wireless Mag Charger’s body is hand-made from plastics that are deemed non-recyclable by councils in the UK. The plastic components are sorted by color to help create unique marbled variations. No extra materials or dyes are used in the plastic molding process, and the marbled effect is created using the native color of the plastics, with each pattern and design being unique to the individual product.

With an output of 15W, the charger matches the power delivery of Apple’s own MagSafe Charger, albeit with a sustainable twist. The Gomi Wireless Mag Charger works with all wireless-charging enabled devices, allowing you to charge your phone, AirPods, and any other devices you may have. Its MagSafe compatibility works with iPhones 12 and future MagSafe models, allowing you to snap your phone right in place, aligning the wireless charging coils perfectly for uninterrupted charging.

Gomi’s Wireless Mag Chargers come in 3 color varieties – Blue Ocean, Black Mono, and the colorful Birthday Cake. At £35, they cost as much as Apple’s own MagSafe charger does, but color, character, and a sustainable twist to the product.

The wireless charger plugs into any USB-C wall plug, and magnetically attaches onto the back of the phone, or works as a traditional charging mat for your AirPods and other devices. Co-founder and designer at Gomi design, Tom Meades, said ‘The chargers aim to bring fun playful colors to your work-from-home desk setup, whilst maintaining premium quality in functionality.’ Like all of Gomi’s products, the handmade Wireless Mag Chargers come with an automatic lifetime warranty that helps keep them out of landfills. Gomi assures lifetime repairs and also offers buy-back credits for devices at the end of their product life-cycle so that the company can reuse/recycle components into a newer generation of products.

Designer: Gomi

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This iPhone case gives your smartphone the Apple Mac Pro ‘cheesegrater’ texture

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“Never knock an idea until you actually try it.”

My opinion on the 2019 Mac Pro has aged pretty well, I’d say. Sure, my reaction (which came just moments after the design was released) may have been premature, and so were the memes that followed the debut of the ‘cheesegrater Mac’… but even now, 2 years down the line, it feels slightly cathartic to know that my opinion hasn’t really changed – the 2019 Mac Pro still looks visibly odd and sort of gets my skin crawling.

Recently though, the media discovered a patent for an iPhone that used the ‘cheesegrater’ texture for efficient cooling or thermal transmission, and let’s just say, people weren’t happy. Some even legitimately debunked it as an April Fool’s Prank from Apple. My thoughts on the matter weren’t any different – it sounds like a terrible idea, but I thought the best thing to do would be to really give Apple the benefit of the doubt and MAKE a cheesegrater iPhone just so I have something to visually judge it by.

Presenting, the ‘Cheesegrater’ Case for the iPhone 12 Pro. Made from a TPE bumper and a machined aluminum backplate, the case puts the familiar cheesegrater texture on the back of the iPhone to help it cool more efficiently (well at least in theory). In theory, it’s also perfectly suited to mince cloves of garlic or grate some Parmigiano Reggiano.

Now that we have a (sort of) clear vision of what the cheesegrater texture would look like on an iPhone, let’s objectively and subjectively judge this. For starters, it just looks like a really bad idea. Objectively speaking, a textured metal body would most certainly trap dirt, dust, pieces of lint, aside from also preventing the phone from wirelessly charging. The current textured metal plate is 1mm thick, and for any sort of texture, you’d need 3D depth which adds unnecessary thickness to the phone – something Apple probably won’t want to do. Subjectively speaking, the texture looks worse on the iPhone than on the Mac Pro (although it may also be my execution). Apple’s patent file states “the components of the electronic device may be designed to provide a unique and pleasing look and feel for a user”, a purpose that gets defeated when even Digital Trends calls it “Apple’s worst-ever design idea”. Moreover, at that scale, the texture could actually be used as a garlic press or a microplane for grating hard cheeses, which makes it difficult to take seriously when the texture is on a $1200 flagship smartphone. Let’s not even get into the ‘trypophobia’ angle.

My opinions aside, it seems like a weird idea for Apple to take such an extreme route for “enhanced levels of heat removal”. What exactly is the iPhone doing that it would even need desktop-grade heat removal? Is Apple going all-in on AR, or is it looking to put more powerful Apple-built silicone chips in their new iPhones? We’ll never really know. All we can say with a certain degree of confidence is that a ‘Cheesegrater’ iPhone isn’t really a great idea…

If you really want to make your own ‘Cheesegrater’ iPhone case, you can download the 3D files by clicking here.

Designer/Visualizer: Sarang Sheth

This aluminum MagSafe wallet is harder, better, and stronger than Apple’s accessories

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Yes, I’m sad about Daft Punk splitting up… how did you know? Okay, maybe that reference in the title sounded a little forced, but it does make a point… because Apple’s original MagSafe card-holder is frankly garbage. I’m talking about that flimsy piece of leather that holds roughly 2-3 cards and costs a shameful $59. It isn’t even RFID-proof, for crying out loud. In Apple’s defense, it doesn’t do accessories well. The charging cables barely last a year before breaking, its AirPower mat was a disaster, and let’s not forget the $700 Mac Pro wheels from 2019. Apple does, however, create the perfect opportunity for third-party companies to make some of the best accessories for their products… so when I saw the original leather MagSafe wallet on Apple’s website, I knew it was just a matter of time till an independent company made something harder, better, stronger, and well, more affordable too!

Meet the Fantom C, a MagSafe wallet designed to complement the Apple iPhone in durability and function. It comes machined from a Cerakoted billet of aluminum. The ceramic coating on the Aluminum makes it tougher and more abrasion-resistant, while a neat carbon-fiber finish on the surface of the wallet gives it a much more reliable and rugged appeal. Designed as a piece of EDC that pairs beautifully with your iPhone 12, the Fantom C gives you a dedicated space to store your cards right on the back of your phone. Magnets on its rear-side allow it to snap to the iPhone with a satisfying click, and at 0.31 inches (8 mm) thick, it’s marginally thicker than Apple’s own MagSafe wallet, but then again, the Fantom C is also capable of much more.

Right off the bat, the Fantom C can store more cards than the Apple MagSafe wallet. With space for as many as 5 cards, the Fantom C essentially allows you to shift your entire wallet onto the back of your phone, while cleverly-engineered internal details keep your cards safely inside the wallet, preventing them from ever accidentally falling out. The Fantom C features a unique profile on the front as well as the back, allowing you to easily fan out your cards with either your index finger or your thumb, so you can swiftly pick the card you want to use, and that aluminum construction gives the wallet RFID and NFC-blocking properties, keeping your cards safe from digital theft too! Oh, and at an early-bird price of $69, it’s just 10 bucks more than Apple’s wallet, but provides more features and functionality while being both durable as well as safe!

Designer: Ansix Designs

Click Here to Buy Now: $69 $89 ($20 off). Hurry, only 4/365 left!

Fantom C – The Apple iPhone MagSafe Card Fanning Wallet

The Fantom C is a minimalist wallet that pairs perfectly with the MagSafe of an Apple iPhone. The Fantom C also works perfectly as a compact, slim stand-alone wallet.

Compact Design

To make it compatible with even the smallest iPhone 12 Mini, the footprint of the wallet is just a tad larger than a standard credit card, making the Fantom C the smallest Fantom Wallet ever. To enable this ultra compact design, they removed the fanning lever so that the cards are fanned manually.

Built to Last

The Fantom C is made from all-aluminum chassis with the tough Ceramic Coated finish.

Instant Access

Fan out your cards for easy access the Fantom way. Easily select the card of your choice.

One-handed Operation

With the Fantom C Wallet’s integrated quick-access card slot, easily grab your top card with your thumb in one swift motion.

Safe & Secure

Carefully engineered so that the cards will not fall out easily.

Strong Grip

Strong magnetic connection between the Fantom C and iPhone 12 for your peace of mind.

Light & Thin

At 0.31 in (8 mm) thick, you won’t even notice the Fantom C Wallet in your pocket.

RFID/NFC Protection

The aluminum chassis provides RFID signal protection to keep your personal information safe.

Click Here to Buy Now: $69 $89 ($20 off). Hurry, only 4/365 left!

The iPhone 12 MagSafe charger gets an old-fashioned touch with Grovemade’s wooden charging stand

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The iPhone user certainly has an archetype, doesn’t it? I’m thinking of someone with AirPods in their ears, Starbucks coffee in one hand, Tesla keys in the other. However, that archetype only speaks to a small subset of iPhone users. There is, however, a certain sect of iPhone users who share an affinity for the old-fashioned touch. I’m talking wooden desk, wooden pen-stand, hand-carved wicker chair. Grovemade‘s products clearly cater to that latter category of people.

I wouldn’t outright call Grovemade old-fashioned, but rather I’d say their work is a confluence of sensibilities and materials. Primarily relying on wood and metal to craft their products, Grovemade’s designs boast of an old-world charm that’s also intertwined with modern minimalism. Take for instance the Wood MagSafe Stand, available in both Walnut and Maple variants. The stand, which sports a wooden halo mounted on a steel base, allows you to slip your iPhone MagSafe wireless charger in, routing the cable from the bottom. It then gives your iPhone 12 a nice, wooden armchair to hang out on, letting you rest it in either landscape or portrait while it charges. Paired perfectly with any of Grovemade’s other wooden tabletop accessories, and probably a nice glass of barrel-aged whiskey…

Designer: Grovemade