When I was using an iPhone 15 Pro a few years ago, I went caseless for most of my time, but I decided to pick up a cheap silicone case from Amazon for my camping trips. That led me to Elago, which has made some of my favourite Apple accessories over the years and has also upped the quality of its cases this year.
Once I saw that it included a MagSafe ring and Camera Control passthrough, I ordered both models — one made of silicone and another of faux leather — to test. Both are fine for their price, but the faux leather one feels cheap, while the silicone one feels better than expected.
I got yellow, but there are 25 other colours to pick from.
The silicone option usually costs around $15-$20, depending on what colour you get and whether it’s on sale or not. As I mentioned above, these include magnets for MagSafe and a capacitive button for Camera Control, which you don’t always see on cases this cheap.
The buttons are made of coloured aluminum and are quite clicky. I actually like this more than Apple’s version, which doesn’t use metal buttons anymore. The subtle shine of the metal give the case a bit of fun flair. I have the yellow version, and the buttons really pop, but some others don’t look not be as bold.
Inside the case, there is a microfibre lining, and this is where you can notice that the build quality isn’t super precise. The edges of the lining just aren’t as clean as Apple’s, but you never see this part so I wouldn’t hold it against Elgo.
What I will hold against it is the strength of the silicone used between the camera control button. One of my friends bought one of these cases for his iPhone 17 shortly after launch, and the case cracked there when he was taking his phone out of it. If you leave your phone in a case all the time, this will be less of an issue, but it’s worth noting. I also had similar problems using Apple’s Silicone cases in the past. However, the Elago one is significantly cheaper to replace, so there’s something to be said for that.
Overall, this is a pretty good case for its price. Sure it has some flaws, but it also has all the case features I care about and I can get it in 26 different colours, which at the end of the day is enough for me.
The Leather case
This case is a little more expensive, coming in around $25-$30, depending on sales and colours. The faux leather is made of some vegan material, and it’s textured like leather, but the material feels thin, so there’s no give or squish like genuine leather.
Apple tries to replicate this squish with its TechWoven (and FineWoven RIP) cases by sewing a thicker pad behind the back of the main fabric to give it some thickness that you can feel slightly compress under your hand. It’s a nice effect and would go a long way here.
This one feels like plastic, so you get what you pay for here, but it does look a bit classier than the silicone one and comes in four subdued styles. The buttons are still metal, but they’re not as chamfered as the silicone ones, so while they’re smaller, they don’t feel as nice. The flip side of that coin is that the sharper edges on the leather case’s buttons are more discernible if you’re trying to hit them while they’re in your pocket.
Overall, you get all the premium case features for less, but the fake leather is so plasticky that I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone looking for a good alternative to Apple’s old leather cases.
Both cases are fine, considering they’re so cheap, but the silicone one feels like a great value, while the fake leather one leaves me wishing I had spent more on a case using real leather or a thicker faux material.
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