We are at the cusp of Apple’s fall event, where the tech giant will release new iPhones, Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and new AirPods. While people are eagerly waiting for Apple to announce iPhone 15 series with new features, a piece of disappointing news has emerged today. According to a prominent Apple leaker, Apple will not release leather cases for this year’s iPhone lineup.
The information is sourced from DanRui, who gathers most of his content from Chinese social media platforms. He says that Apple won’t be releasing leather cases for iPhone 15 lineup. DanRui is not the only source who has said that there will be no leather cases this year.
I've heard that Apple won't be releasing a Leather Case for the iPhone 15 series.
— DuanRui (@duanrui1205) August 17, 2023
Other credible sources including 9to5Mac and ShrimpApplePro have also corroborated similar thoughts about iPhone 15 series.
Also hearing the same but it wasn’t a worth enough info to post.
— ShrimpApplePro 🍤 (@VNchocoTaco) August 17, 2023
Now im backed home, next update should be up soon. https://t.co/HngtTKNrND
If this turns out to be true, it will be a strange move from Apple’s end as leather cases is an important part of Apple’s iPhone accessories. The company first released a leather case for iPhone 5s in 2013. Since then Apple has released leather cases for every iPhone ever released to date.
While it is not known why Apple would break a 10-year-long tradition, 9to5Mac has proposed that the company is planning to replace leather cases with something that would be made of vegan material and carries a smaller carbon footprint as compared to leather cases.
Leather cases have a high carbon footprint and Apple in its mission to cut down carbon footprint could take this decision to replace leather cases with an environmentally friendly option.
We have already seen some premium car companies following this trend where they no longer offer leather seats and trims but have replaced them with vegan options. Elon Musk-owned Tesla does not offer leather seats altogether, whereas Italian luxury sports car company Ferrari offers an environment friendly leather alternative named Mycro Prestige.
Another reason why we believe Apple is planning to phase out leather altogether is a tweet by Majin Bu, who offers insights into upcoming Apple products on Twitter.
Majin Bu tweeted on March 6 this year that Apple is expected to release 2 new colors for the spring collection of iPhone 14 leather cases.. But, it did not happen.
Now, Majin Bu has tweeted that the reason why Apple did not release iPhone 14 leather cases is because the company has plans to no longer offer cases made of leather material.
If you remember a few months ago I posted this, in fact the new leather cases for iPhone 14 were available in the official schemes even if they never officially came out. Apple probably decided not to release them because they were considering removing leather as a material https://t.co/VOcTlq3agb pic.twitter.com/Nc7aXx47IQ
— Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) August 17, 2023
As so many sources are pointing towards it, the information seems even more believable. However, we will have to wait until the official announcement to get any confirmation.