In my opinion, the X feels better in Apple's leather case than it does naked. There's more grip and I don't have to worry about constantly wiping smudges away. The damage protection in the event I drop it is a nice secondary benefit.
The last few years (since I shattered my iPhone 6) I'm VERY conscious of where my phone is but accidents still happen. I've dropped my X once and the scuffs on the corners of my leather case add some nice character.
While the Apple leather case is definitely my fav case when I actually use a case- would have to disagree about it having more grip than the naked X. Especially when your hands are dry, the leather really is pretty slippery and def more slippery than a material like glass. I’ve mentioned before- old leather cases- from the iPhone 6 era- were a much much softer leather. It’s disappointing that they changed it. And yes it gains a bit more grip over time but it’s still a different leather than they used to use. Using no case also gives the phone much better balance and usability with 1 hand in my opinion due to less thickness. You don’t realize it but even a semi-thin case like the apple leather case is probably adding about 25% thickness to the phone. To each his own obviously- but Apple upgrade program + completely naked is easily my preferred method of using this phone.