Have you ever ever wished an iPhone case that appears like a pair of Crocs? You realize, the ugly-but-comfy slip-on sneakers lined in holes that you may optionally enhance with colourful push-pins? You haven’t? Properly, apparently some designer at smartphone case maker Casetify noticed a pair of Crocs and thought to themselves, wow, that may make for a fantastic iPhone case!!
No, we’re not kidding.
Casetify this month launched a brand new collection of iPhone circumstances that look precisely like Crocs sneakers, full with their trypophobia-inducing holes and units of pushpin decorations that mean you can personalize your cellphone case with issues like flowers, rainbows, smiley faces, and…uhhh…a stick of butter. A chunk of toast. A snail. A motel keychain??
I’m sorry, however what the precise **** is occurring right here?
These circumstances are promoting for $52!
Whereas TechCrunch doesn’t usually cowl smartphone circumstances or equipment, after we noticed this new product line we knew we needed to make an exception due to its actually oddball nature. Is that this press launch a prank? Is that this an early April Idiot’s? Vaporware? Have we time-traveled to the Nineteen Eighties for brand new product concepts?
We remorse/are pleased to tell you that these circumstances are actual. We now have them in hand and have put them by means of their paces.
Right here’s what we will report. The circumstances themselves are available in black, lavender, cream, and pink. They’re comfortable and versatile with their silicone finishings, as described. In addition they have bumpers on the corners and the promised raised bezel to assist shield the display. Casetify says they supply as much as 4 ft of drop safety.
However after all, nobody is shopping for these circumstances for his or her safety capabilities. They’re shopping for them for the “aesthetic” in the event that they’re shopping for them in any respect.
Out there just for iPhone 14 Professional and Professional Max, the circumstances have both 13 to 14 holes designed to carry the pushpins. These are bought in units of 5 pins that promote for $22 — this isn’t an affordable joke to take part in!
Picture Credit: Casetify
At launch, there are 4 foremost units obtainable: a “cottage core” set with a mushroom, snail, strawberry, flower, and duck; a “retro west” set with a dalmatian-spotted cowboy hat, matchbox, cowboy boot, motel keychain and 70’s trying happy-faced flower (no, I don’t know the way the flower is western both); a “diner breakfast” set with the aforementioned butter and toast, a smiley face, checkered coronary heart, and the textual content “thanks!” as you’d discover in your diner test; and the “peace love earth” set with a teddy bear, heart-shaped world, happy-faced daisy; yin yang image; and pleased rainbow.
Picture Credit: Casetify
There may be additionally a Restricted Version “Barbie” set with pink barbie pushpins like Barbie’s face, model, jacket, heart-shaped glasses and the yr “1959.”
That one sells for $82! Eighty…two…{dollars}.
I don’t even…why…
We requested Casetify the way it got here up with this um, “distinctive,” concept.
The corporate informed us that it’s designed many modern merchandise over the previous few years, like its mirror circumstances, pillow circumstances, and bounce circumstances, and it thought these new pushpin circumstances would merely supply its clients “new methods to specific themselves with their on a regular basis tech.”
“The primary pin units we’ve produced have been developed with our best-selling prints in thoughts, and in addition taking into consideration trending merchandise amongst Gen Z and Millennials,” a spokesperson stated.
Once we requested what was the cope with the butter, they famous, “may be stunning to know that food-related gadgets promote rather well haha!”
Picture Credit: Casetify
Okay, however butter? Actually? Is that due to that viral butter bench? Have cellphone circumstances now tied themselves to area of interest TikTok developments?
Plus, there’s the cottage core set that’s additionally seemingly impressed by the web development that romanticizes nation life and residing in concord with nature — an aesthetic that grew in reputation because of TikTok’s subcommunities pushed by its customized algorithms. Now it’s jumped from the display into your pocket.
In any occasion, regardless of having big pins protruding of the again of the case, it wasn’t too onerous to shove the adorned case into your pocket or pull it out. The circumstances and the pins are pretty clean, so whereas they tug just a little in your garments, it finally ends up probably not getting any extra caught than, say, your Popsockets grip, for instance.
In the meantime, truly adorning the case with pins wasn’t too troublesome both. Pushing the pins in did require just a little effort, notably on the underside row for some cause, however as soon as in they felt pretty safe.
The pins might be combined and matched based mostly in your temper, Casetify says, however the debut alternatives have been pretty restricted. In fact, we needed to strive jamming some Crocs Jibbitz (aka Crocs pins) into the holes of the case simply to see. In spite of everything, if the circumstances supported Jibbitz, that may have opened up a wide selection of customization choices! However sadly, the rounded-backed Jibbitz we had readily available — these sparkly Howdy Kitty charms — have been simply too giant. Bummer.
Casetify says it’s planning to launch extra pin units and circumstances sooner or later, together with by means of upcoming model collaborations, just like the one it did a couple of months in the past with Barbie, which precipitated the Push-In case line. We don’t know which aesthetic group can be subsequent to get the pushpin remedy, however there are loads of “-cores” to select from.
