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December 2nd will mark a full month of use on my natural Nomad. Current pic, some may like it, some may hate it. I personally like it. It’s very different looking and I get asked quite a bit what phone I’m using and what case it is.
 

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Will try to post pics tomorrow—been beating the hell out of the case with rough-ish cloth and really rubbing in the oils from my hands—looks like the protective wax is much thicker this year, but it’s starting to burnish nicely along the corners.

I’m hoping it’s merely the wax being stripped off and not the outer layer of the leather :-o
 
Will try to post pics tomorrow—been beating the hell out of the case with rough-ish cloth and really rubbing in the oils from my hands—looks like the protective wax is much thicker this year, but it’s starting to burnish nicely along the corners.

I’m hoping it’s merely the wax being stripped off and not the outer layer of the leather :-o
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I'm starting to be afraid that this year's patina on saddle brown will be quite ugly :( Maybe time to think about black leather
 
I'm starting to be afraid that this year's patina on saddle brown will be quite ugly :( Maybe time to think about black leather

tried black but went back to saddle brown.

black feels more plush and softer to touch but very delicate, marks get left easily on it.
 
tried black but went back to saddle brown.

black feels more plush and softer to touch but very delicate, marks get left easily on it.
I'm also a bit worried how black leather case for 6.1" will age. I haven't received my new phone yet but I got the case already and leather looks matte and feels very soft and fragile this year. No gloss and quite hard surface as in my X case (but my X case is more slippery).
Surely grip is excellent but not sure this will last very long because seem to mark and scratch very easily. Also workmanship seems pretty poor. Also got red one for my wife and it is excellent worksmanship and leather is maybe a bit more durable feeling but still not like before.

I was wondering if there is much variation from case to case if it would be worth to get another black case and see if it is better? I don't like silicone ones, they are lint magnets and not as nice feeling as real leather.

I also saw some peoples complaining 12 leather cases get sticky after few weeks of use. Is this common and does the leather start to wear off, attract lint or bleeding color, or does it just get more grippy?

I also noticed both leather cases I got do not smell leather, they both have faint very chemical smell. Practically they smell identical as one faux leather case I got for my X (I never use it) but not as strong. I'm not sure what my X leather case smelled like but it definitely smells like leather now after using it 2 years.
 
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I'm also a bit worried how black leather case for 6.1" will age. I haven't received my new phone yet but I got the case already and leather looks matte and feels very soft and fragile this year. No gloss and quite hard surface as in my X case (but my X case is more slippery).
Surely grip is excellent but not sure this will last very long because seem to mark and scratch very easily. Also workmanship seems pretty poor. Also got red one for my wife and it is excellent worksmanship and leather is maybe a bit more durable feeling but still not like before.

I was wondering if there is much variation from case to case if it would be worth to get another black case and see if it is better? I don't like silicone ones, they are lint magnets and not as nice feeling as real leather.

I also saw some peoples complaining 12 leather cases get sticky after few weeks of use. Is this common and does the leather start to wear off, attract lint or bleeding color, or does it just get more grippy?

I also noticed both leather cases I got do not smell leather, they both have faint very chemical smell. Practically they smell identical as one faux leather case I got for my X (I never use it) but not as strong. I'm not sure what my X leather case smelled like but it definitely smells like leather now after using it 2 years.

The black leather will definitely shine over time, the case on display in the store I went too was quite glossy

I guess probably the way black was finished, felt “softer” than saddle brown for sure, may not hold up as well over time but every case is different as you use it and it’ll get gripper too as it ages, if in doubt you can always request to check on another black case if you’re gonna attempt an exchange in store

leather cases for me do not attract lint as compared to silicone ones and yes it does have this smell to it but I suppose it’ll go away over time

overall thought is that this year’s leather case especially the saddle brown definitely feels different compared to my X & XS Max’s, it’s not patina-ing even after a week of use
 
The black leather will definitely shine over time, the case on display in the store I went too was quite glossy

I guess probably the way black was finished, felt “softer” than saddle brown for sure, may not hold up as well over time but every case is different as you use it and it’ll get gripper too as it ages, if in doubt you can always request to check on another black case if you’re gonna attempt an exchange in store

leather cases for me do not attract lint as compared to silicone ones and yes it does have this smell to it but I suppose it’ll go away over time

overall thought is that this year’s leather case especially the saddle brown definitely feels different compared to my X & XS Max’s, it’s not patina-ing even after a week of use

I hope it will age well. Anyway the one I have is so matte I'm afraid it will just end up stained and scratched looking.
It actually reminds me a lot of iPhone 5s leather case, it was grippy and rather matte but it was still durable. It always had very strong real leather smell.

This is definitely much different than X leather case was, which had pretty glossy finish, but on the other hand it was slippery for a long and still after 2 years of use not as grippy as unused 12 case.
 
Your case fits to good? You want it to fit loosely and pop off of the phone randomly? Isn’t the goal to have a nice tight form fitting case that stays on the phone even if it’s dropped? I’ve been using my Mujjo case for the past day and it fits exceptionally well on all corners. It’s very tight and formed perfectly to the 12. This case models last years 11 pro Apple case that I had which fit very well.
No, the corners at the bottom do not fit for the iphone, so the iphone does not fit completely in the case and you can see space between your phone and case.
 
I believe the other reason why these cases are taking so long to patina is because of the MagSafe charger I’m sure apple tested these cases and wanted to make sure they can be as durable as possible to avoid the MagSafe ring. However I ended returning my black leather case because even though I do not use MagSafe chargers of any MagSafe accessories the case started showing that MagSafe ring for no reason so I went back to saddle brown. I know that I’m never going to get those beautiful results like in previous generations, but it is what it is. 😒
 
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I believe the other reason why these cases are taking so long to patina is because of the MagSafe charger I’m sure apple tested these cases and wanted to make sure they can be as durable as possible to avoid the MagSafe ring. However I ended returning my black leather case because even though I do not use MagSafe chargers of any MagSafe accessories the case started showing that MagSafe ring for no reason so I went back to saddle brown. I know that I’m never going to get those beautiful results like in previous generations, but it is what it is. 😒
Black was more delicate to me, I went back to saddle brown and I guess it is what it is

probably they treated the surface to make it more durable, ended up feeling more “synthetic”
 
The plastic lip around the camera of my leather case for the 12PM seems to be detaching from the leather and a gap is now visible. Is this normal? Anyone else have similar issues?
View attachment 1683169View attachment 1683170
My saddle brown has it, both on my first and replacement case.

Almost all the saddle brown in store had this gap somewhere somehow, I gave up and took the best one out of the lot
 
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My saddle brown has it, both on my first and replacement case.

Almost all the saddle brown in store had this gap somewhere somehow, I gave up and took the best one out of the lot
What a shame. I put both leather and silicone cases on my Christmas list but now I'm afraid of what I'll end up getting and the headache that comes with exchanging, especially now that Apple stores are closed.
 
My saddle brown has it, both on my first and replacement case.

Almost all the saddle brown in store had this gap somewhere somehow, I gave up and took the best one out of the lot
I haven’t seen any of these issues with mine. Either I’m not looking hard enough or it’s not there yet.
 
I'm also a bit worried how black leather case for 6.1" will age. I haven't received my new phone yet but I got the case already and leather looks matte and feels very soft and fragile this year. No gloss and quite hard surface as in my X case (but my X case is more slippery).
Surely grip is excellent but not sure this will last very long because seem to mark and scratch very easily. Also workmanship seems pretty poor. Also got red one for my wife and it is excellent worksmanship and leather is maybe a bit more durable feeling but still not like before.

I was wondering if there is much variation from case to case if it would be worth to get another black case and see if it is better? I don't like silicone ones, they are lint magnets and not as nice feeling as real leather.

I also saw some peoples complaining 12 leather cases get sticky after few weeks of use. Is this common and does the leather start to wear off, attract lint or bleeding color, or does it just get more grippy?

I also noticed both leather cases I got do not smell leather, they both have faint very chemical smell. Practically they smell identical as one faux leather case I got for my X (I never use it) but not as strong. I'm not sure what my X leather case smelled like but it definitely smells like leather now after using it 2 years.
Same here! I bought the Apple leather case in black color just yesterday for my 12 Mini- first time I have ever bought an Apple case. I was surprised that it smelled like chemicals instead of that "leather" smell you get from other leather products.

So black is no good, it will mark up easily and look bad after some time? I bought black because it was all Best Buy had in stock yesterday, but I certainly do not want to spend this much money and have it look terrible in the near future....

I have debated spending far less (less than $20) to get an ESR black leather case for my Mini on Amazon's cyber money sale- it looks pretty similar, and even if quality is a smidge worse than Apple, it is only a quarter of the price.
 
I had to exchange my Saddle Brown; however, Saddle Brown is on backorder at Best Buy so decided to try out the Black one this time. Let's see how it ages. This is Day 1.
Is it really that shiny and real black looking black in real life? Mine is much more matte and somewhat grayish even (very much like what it shows in the official product photos).

Does leather feel fragile and easily scratching?
 
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