As the nation’s foremost FineWoven hater, I’ve some nice information about Apple’s follow-up: it doesn’t suck. I’ve been utilizing a TechWoven case on an iPhone 17 Professional for the previous week and I’ve no complaints. I took it up a mountain; I saved it within the sweaty again pocket of my yoga pants on a motorbike trip. I carried it subsequent to my keys, gave it to my toddler, and dealt with it whereas measuring out elements for banana bread. It’s superb. High-quality is nice.
Keep in mind FineWoven? Apple launched the fabric in 2023 when the corporate discontinued its leather-based instances and equipment — which it did for good causes. FineWoven’s “microtwill,” as Apple described it, is way extra sustainable than leather-based, what with all of the burping up of greenhouse gases that cows do. The corporate described FineWoven as “luxurious and sturdy.” It was neither; it scratched easily and aged ungracefully. So, Apple did what Apple tends to do when issues go mistaken: quietly retire it and faux it by no means occurred.
FineWoven is simply semi-retired, I assume, as a result of there’s a bright orange FineWoven MagSafe wallet sitting on my desk that was bundled in with this 12 months’s iPhone overview models. However so far as instances go, FineWoven is out and TechWoven is in. The TechWoven case for the iPhone 17 Pro is $59, like its predecessor, nevertheless it’s much less silky, extra rugged, and rather more troublesome to scratch. In response to Apple, it’s fabricated from one hundred pc recycled polyester woven to create a “dimensional texture with a wealthy depth of colour.” Others may describe it as “bumpy” and “kinda cool should you take a look at it actual shut.” However most significantly, it doesn’t scratch on the mere sight of your own home keys. I needed to dig fairly exhausting with my fingernail to get any sort of mark, and even that buffed out with none lasting results.
It’s not what I might name an elegant case. However that’s within the title: it is a tech case for technical folks, not a fancy-people case. It’s just for the 17 Professional, not the common 17 or the Air. It sort of matches the 17 Professional’s vibe shift, too, which is extra utilitarian than the slick standing image it has been for the previous few years. Need a bougie-looking cellphone? Get an Air. Need to embrace the uncooked energy of three rear cameras and a battery that really lasts all day? That’s the Professional, child. TechWoven may make your cellphone appear like a Ninja Turtle, however no less than it looks as if it can go the gap.
Pictures by Allison Johnson / The Verge