iPhone 16 case comparison: Apple clear case vs Beats case

I struggle with phone cases. For one, I enjoy the feel of the materials used in most high-end phones, as well as keeping things as thin and light as possible. For two, the vast majority of phones cases out there are horrifically ugly. Like truly, bafflingly ugly.

The unfortunate reality though—at least for me—is that modern phones are too damn big. If I’m trying to reply to a text while walking the dog or taking a selfie with my wife, I feel like I’m in constant danger of the thing slipping out of my hand.

In the past I’ve used Apple’s silicone cases. I like the look and feel of them a lot, but they’re flawed in a few ways. As well as attracting dust like crazy, they’re annoyingly difficult to get in and out of jeans pockets, and because of that they tend to wear more on the top corners and go shiny. On top of that, the colour range at any given time usually has a few vibrant options alongside half a dozen soul-crushingly dull shades, and right now none of the bright colours on sale go particularly well with my teal iPhone 16.

I’ve also dabbled with leather cases, which I like the feel of, but I can completely understand why Apple stopped making them. I hope they have an attempt at a synthetic leather in future—as long as it goes better than FineWoven, at least. There’s a number of decent third-party leather options, but again none seemed like they really go that well with my phone colour.

Clear case

I bought Apple’s clear case when I got the phone, and I’ve been fairly happy with it. I think the overall look is cool, with that “encased in plastic” style harking back to early 2000s Macs and displays. Being able to see the colour of the phone in its full glory is great too.

I don’t love the MagSafe ring—especially because, to my eye, it doesn’t look perceptually centred—but I don’t hate it either, and last I checked transparent magnets aren’t a thing that exists.

It’s decently grippy, but it adds a lot more bulk than I’d like, and it makes the buttons weirdly tough to press. I assume it relies on just flexing the case rather than there being any movement in the case’s own buttons.

Its achilles heel though, something you have almost certainly already noticed from the photo, is dust. I dunno if I have particularly linty pockets or what, but the sides of this thing hoover up debris like crazy, and it looks terrible. I’m not exaggerating when I say I have to take it off almost every day to clean it out. This has been my main motivation for looking for an alternative, because while I’m sure all the non-clear cases ingest fluff at a similar rate, I can’t see it.

Beats case

This is a nice feeling case. It’s very high gloss which won’t be to everyone’s tastes (especially with how many smudges it picks up), but it feels good in the hand and has enough grip without feeling tacky. It’s very similar to how the iPhone 5C felt, and almost has me thinking I could be interested in a modern-day plastic iPhone.

The buttons are much, much better than the Apple clear case. They look to be independently-moving, and there’s no additional force needed to press them compared to the phone’s own buttons. It also feels appreciably thinner and a little lighter than the clear case. I don’t have callipers to be able to measure the difference, but whatever—it feels thinner.

I don’t love the colour. I went for “riptide blue” as the closest match to my phone, and I guess it is accurate insofar as it reminds me of vaguely dirty seawater. I don’t hate it, but I’d much rather the colours be inverted: the case be the bright blue of the MagSafe ring, and the ring and small Beats logo be darker.

Speaking of, the MagSafe ring is an odd choice. On the clear case there’s no avoiding it of course, but I’m not sure why they decided to print one here. Ah well.