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bborud · a month ago
Objects have to earn the right to exist. We make so much stuff. Most of it unnecessary. Stuff that will soon be cluttering your home and then end up in a landfill.

This is not a product that deserves to exist. It is not made from quality materials ( Nylon (14%), Polyester (85%), Polyurethane (1%)). It is not innovative. It is questionable whether it solves its primary use case particularly well.

What makes this particularly objectionable is that it is from a design house that usually makes quality garments. And then they stoop to making this crap, slapping their designer label on it and then exploit ghastly people who don't know any better to waste tons of money on it.

This is pissing on Issey Miyake's grave.

98codes · a month ago
It's November, but I still had to make sure the date on the page wasn't April 1st.
vessenes · a month ago
Exactly my reaction. I hate this. I hate that someone thought of it and that it exists. I have no idea if it will sell, but I was like "no way, that cannot be a real launch from Apple"
InfinityByTen · a month ago
I came here to say, how I wish it was an article from The Onion.
boringg · a month ago
Im not sure if you have spent any time in Asia but they love to have little throwaway bags for their to go drinks so they stay cold - and they hang in the same way. This looks like the exact same thing but pop an iphone in it.

Wild waste of materials and design.

thisislife2 · a month ago
What I am curious about is whether women in France, Greater China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK, and the U.S (where this product is going to be launched) don't use hand-bags? If not, do they hold the phones in their hands or keep it in their pockets? In India or the middle-east, I've never seen women carry their phones in anything but their hand-bags / clutches.
lynn_xx · a month ago
Yes, you're right. People in Asia do like to use small bags for their phones or lipsticks. But those little bags are usually really cute or nicely designed, not like this one. Collaborate with Issey Miyake? Seriously?
fvrghl · a month ago
Are you familiar with Miyake's work? He did a lot of innovative design with synthetics, including the entire Pleats Please line.
bborud · a month ago
To some degree, but junk is junk even if it says Issey Miyake on it. But at the price they are asking I'd insist on higher quality materials. Not this junk.

It is like those horrible Louis Vuitton plastic bags. Yes they are expensive and probably better made than most plastic bags, but they are mass produced plastic bags. You can get nice, custom, handmade bags for a fraction of what this pointless junk goes for.

(The only reason I know about Issey Miyake is because years ago I happened to buy a couple of handmade linen suits while visiting Japan. And only later discovered that these suits were "a big deal" when some fashion people I shared an office with saw me wear them as "casual office clothes". To me they were comfortable linen suits that were obviously hand dyed. And they weren't even that expensive)

__alexs · a month ago
Synthetic fabrics are perfectly capable of being high quality. Buzz Rickson aren't making their MA-1s out of junk.
bborud · a month ago
The MA-1 "works" under a relatively narrow set of conditions that I don't see most days. I tried. It is a miserable garment for how and where I live.

I'm not saying synthetic materials are always bad. I own a few jackets in synthetic materials that are good, but I have gone through a lot that are rubbish. For jackets it is more about the technical design than the exact material. I have had lots of expensive jackets that just don't work for my use cases. And a few that do. It is trial and error since I have no idea why some jackets just don't work.

I live in a place where it rains heavily, and in the winter it is often cold, and I spend a lot of time outside being physically active. This means that the challenge is to find jackets that can deal with heavy rain, cold, physical abrasion, and perhaps most important of all: moisture management.

If you spend a lot of time being physically active outside in all kinds of bad weather, you tend to start caring a lot about what materials you wear. Best case for sub-par garments: they start to smell. Worst case: you freeze because your clothes can't manage moisture.

But for what is more or less a glorified sock, at that price I am not buying a piece of plastic. I'd expect more pleasant natural materials.

lucideer · a month ago
MA-1s are inner lined with a 100% cotton/wool mix. The outer is nylon because synthetic fabrics are generally good for waterproofing (waterproofing is always a trade-off of quality over function) & also just because bombers are generally nylon, but a big part of their construction is using quality non-synthetic fabrics wherever they can to ensure overall quality.
l5870uoo9y · a month ago
Except microplastics rub off and penetrate the skin barrier.
Animats · a month ago
Hadn't heard Issey Miyake mentioned in over a decade. He was an important designer in the 1980s, and died in 2022. Known for running completed garments through a pleating machine.

Looking at that thing, the overall impression is "a phone so big and heavy it needs its own shoulder bag?"

xeonmc · a month ago
There are at least two graves I can think of that this is pissing on.
naravara · a month ago
What do you mean? Nylon and polyester can be extremely durable, that’s always been their appeal. A knitted pocket is very likely to be a BIFL item even moreso than typical cotton or wool fabrics unless they’re specifically designed to be hard wearing, like canvas. That and the fact that it’s designed to fit any size and model of phone means it’s likely to be significantly less wasteful than putting your phone in a high end leather case that will age out when you upgrade.

Apple is clearly trying to experiment with more textile elements on its products, like with the Apple Watch band and FineWoven/tech woven cases to move away from using environmentally damaging leather and cheap feeling silicon. Stuff like this, sold in small lots, is how you test out whether people are into it before trying to work it into a product meant to sell to hundreds of millions of people.

WhyNotHugo · a month ago
> It is questionable whether it solves its primary use case particularly well.

The primary use case is to show off that you can afford useless pretentious crap. It fulfils this role perfectly well.

bborud · a month ago
When you put it like that I can find no fault with your argument :-)
chaostheory · a month ago
> Objects have to earn the right to exist.

Yes, and that is what a free market is for

I don’t understand this either but you and I are obviously not the target market

bborud · a month ago
I'd object to the notion of a free market. Free and fair markets don't actually exist in the way we like to think. Pretty much every kind of business I've been involved in has different strata of rules for different players.

Try to set up a HFT business. Or try to do anything interesting in telecom. Once you have cleared the capital and regulatory hurdles what kills you is that you need special relationships.

In this case, I doubt this product would become a success without the two brand names behind it, and completely astronomical amounts of financial might. They will sell literal tons of these even if people ultimately find out that they are junk. On its own, this is a bargain bin-liner.

thrw045 · a month ago
You hate on Louis Vuitton but have you ever tried one? Have you looked at all the designs they have? I think LV is better than Hermes bags with that horrendous closure they have on the Birkin and other bags. LV has cool colorful designs also in their ready to wear. You might object to the branding but the bags work very well and are designed well in terms of how easy it is to get stuff in and out and if you don't throw it around the canvas can last a long time. Hermes might have nice Pogo leather and so on but that doesn't mean that closure is worth the hassle IMO.

Also IDK what to think about the iPhone Pocket. It LOOKS like a hassle to get stuff in and out of it but if they have somehow managed to make it easy, maybe it's well designed. If not then I agree with you the product is probably garbage.

StopDisinfo910 · a month ago
They hate on Louis Vuitton plastic bags, not Louis Vuitton in general, and they are entirely right to do so. It's the same with their perfumes, keychains, wallets and most other small accessories. All products which are far too expensive for what they are but remain reachable by the average person to capitalise on people who want the brand but can't afford the "real" products.

Buying entry level products from luxury brands is hard to justify. At their price point, you can generally get a far better equivalent product from a brand with less appeal. It's especially true with Louis Vuitton where the brand's cachet has been severely diluted by how many people own their bags.

matthewdgreen · a month ago
Other random LV fact: Louis Vuitton was a lock maker, and the locks he made were advertised as “unpickable” (more advertising than reality, sadly.) He even had Houdini try to pick one. No, this has nothing to do with TFA, but I like locks.
artyom · a month ago
> We BUY so much stuff. Most of it unnecessary.

Fixed it.

nyx · a month ago
You're right, of course, but I don't think blame rests solely on the individual consumer here... I guess it's a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem, wherein Apple makes $200 knitted iPhone scrotes because they know people will line up to buy it, and people will line up to buy $200 knitted iPhone scrotes because Apple made them.

And people have brand loyalty to Apple stuff because quality, or design, or something... but for a product like this, which to me is prima facie a ridiculous, impractical, high-priced, fast-fashion item, you know that the marketers are cashing in on that brand loyalty almost exclusively (in the absence of any intrinsic value).

Half-baked thoughts, I'm sure people have written properly about this. But the conclusion I leap to is that marketing people are the great Satan here. Fuck those guys.

TheDong · a month ago
The tech industry is basically entirely run on Advertising. Google, Facebook, even Apple owe a huge chunk of their revenue to Ads.

Clearly Ads work. You cannot blame the individual who has been brainwashed, addicted to buying things, by the hyper-capitalist advertising mega-monopolies around us. They are victims too.

constantcrying · a month ago
>It is not made from quality materials ( Nylon (14%), Polyester (85%), Polyurethane (1%))

Polyamids like Nylon are some of the highest quality and most durable fabrics in the world, with some of the best material characteristics fabrics can have.

Given the constraints of the product and looking at it from an engineering standpoint, these are the materials you want for a product like this. Flexible, durable and resistant to weather. I do not see what other materials you would use to achieve a better quality product.

That said, it is of course a stupid fashion accessories. The world is full of them.

stevage · a month ago
I've never seen a bag similar to this so from that perspective it's a bit innovative.

I am so very very far from the target market here though.

vitorsr · a month ago
Reminds me of waterproof phone pouches.
digitcatphd · a month ago
Beatifully said and you are right. I will get mine on Temu.
userbinator · a month ago
and then exploit ghastly people who don't know any better to waste tons of money on it.

It's attempting to be a Veblen Good.

Deleted Comment

PokemonNoGo · a month ago
First thing I my mind went to was the iPod Socks. I still have my old ipods in them... Only me? Ok :|
simjnd · a month ago
To be fair a lot of garments from Issey Miyake are made from similar material.
novok · a month ago
I see you haven't seen designer collabs from ikea and target then.
steve1977 · a month ago
But… but… it’s a 3D-knitted construction!
WheatMillington · a month ago
None of that matters, Apple drones will buy it.
tabletopneedle · a month ago
>It is questionable whether it solves its primary use case particularly well.

It solves the problem of "how do I flaunt the fact I carry an iPhone to everyone around me"

It's a conversation piece and way to flaunt your wealth and status by uncovering a iPhone 17 Pro Max S+ Duo XTX from it when asked.

thelastgallon · a month ago
> It is not made from quality materials ( Nylon (14%), Polyester (85%), Polyurethane (1%)). It is not innovative. It is questionable whether it solves its primary use case particularly well.

It is impossible for Apple to innovate. It's way too much work to compete with BYD/Tesla on real things like Electric Cars.

It's a LOT easier just to extract money from idiots who pay top dollar for 'fashion'. They will market this as the Balenciaga of phone bags, to differentiate it from the $2 phone bags that will appear on Temu next week (or they are already there; Apple is slowly catching up after a few years).

simianparrot · a month ago
I got excited for a moment, thought it was a new line of iPhone Mini -- you know, the actual handheld iPhones. I still use my 13 Mini.

This was the biggest letdown of clicking a link since my last Rickroll in the early 2000's

taylodl · a month ago
Me too! I thought it was an announcement for an iPhone that actually fit in your pocket! The phones are too damned big!
amarant · a month ago
No No, your pockets are too small

-Apple

(See "you're holding it wrong" for an historical reference)

andrepd · a month ago
Has there even been a decently-sized phone since the Sony Compacts? And the iPhone minis of course.
avhception · a month ago
Exactly what I thought!

And instead of making a practical phone that would fit my pocket, we get this stupid, overpriced sock. What a joke.

whateveracct · a month ago
I'm replying to this on a 16 Pro (not Max) and it's a perfectly portable size imo

The Maxes are really huge tho

Tade0 · a month ago
Same.

Meanwhile this looks like this sort of man-purse that in my corner of the world is referred to as something that loosely translates to "quiver of righteousness".

mr_toad · a month ago
It’s about 4x the price of a man purse, even a brand-name like Nike.

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shwaj · a month ago
lol! What corner is that?
rectangleboy · a month ago
Us iPhone 13 Mini holdouts need to get a little louder. It feels like I find more and more on the internet every month -- I'm pretty sure there're far more than just "dozens of us" who want a reasonably-sized phone.
keepamovin · a month ago
You too?!? Where can we congregate. Apart from no Live Translation for AirPods 13mini has everything you want. In a tiny form factor.
dognotdog · a month ago
Indeed, how exciting a phone would be that fit in... you know... bear with me... your pants' pocket you already have... lol
PeaceTed · a month ago
Not just you with this. Was hoping they brought back the mini instead we got iPod sock version 2.
jlaternman · a month ago
It does initially look like a stupid and Insanely Facile fashion statement, I agree, but I think the iPod sock v2 could be one of the most practical and cleverly designed products Apple has ever released.

It's clearly intended to be used as bait for phone snatchers. That iPhone dangling loose a foot below your arm in free air is just too tempting… no thief can resist. But, then! You start swinging that motherf*cker, and your iPhone becomes a deadly weapon before any potential thief has time to think.

Third parties are sure to fill the market with the most obvious additions, e.g. metal spikes, studs, mildly poison-laced hooks. I assume there will also be training courses scheduled in Apple Stores around the world to clarify this accessory's purpose — not to mention, to teach proper technique and the ethical considerations of when to stop striking with the iPhone Pocket to avoid manslaughter charges in your region.

This is a move by Apple to subtly promote armed, deceptive martial arts as self-defence. To promote the Bushido spirit as a practical coping mechanism in these stressful times, and to empower its users in everyday situations. I for one think it's Insanely Great, and right on that bold frontier of innovation and Thinking Different that Apple built its reputation on.

wolfgang000 · a month ago
Me too, I still have my iPhone SE, I was hoping they would bring back some smaller version of the iPhone + Touch ID, I refuse to upgrade just because of the lack of Touch ID
bleh · a month ago
The camera is what finally pried my SE out of my hands, replaced by a 17 Pro. Hate it. Heavy, no more Touch ID, forced into iOS 26. Even the button placement drives me bananas. The amount of times I accidentally take a screenshot because I’m trying to adjust volume...

Still have my SE. When I pick it up, it’s striking just how much better it feels.

jasonwatkinspdx · a month ago
Yeah, I'm on a 3rd gen SE and hoping when it finally dies there will be some sort of similar option.

Not hating on people who do, but I just do not use my phone enough to justify the hassle of having a freakin' cinder block in my pocket.

rkomorn · a month ago
Out of curiosity, what makes you attached to Touch ID? Face ID is one of my favorite things about my SE to mini upgrade.
philip1209 · a month ago
My iPhone 13 mini broke last week and I was pleasantly surprised that AppleCare replaced it. "4 more years!"
DavidPiper · a month ago
I got my 13 mini battery replaced the other day, instead of upgrading.

No regrets, and saved $1800.

closewith · a month ago
Rather than a standalone phone, I'd love a small companion iPhone that uses the same number liked the Apple watch. Just a pocket-sized phone with a camera and the ability to use iPhone apps that I could take places where I don't want or need the full slab-sized behemoth.
NegativeLatency · a month ago
Yeah I was imagining it being more like the "Game Boy Pocket"
levocardia · a month ago
I got rickrolled by Claude last year if it makes you feel any better.
hedora · a month ago
Since it’s clearly April 1st inside the reality distortion field, I’m disappointed there are no throwback designs sized for the mini and se at the bottom of the page.

Dead Comment

AEVL · a month ago
Just some trivia (and an aside):

The collaboration is with Issey Miyake. Steve Jobs black turtlenecks was Issey Miyakes:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferhicks/2022/08/10/heres-...

(As an aside, I swear by pants from the Issey Miyake Homme Plissé collection. Since investing in some pairs about 10 years ago, I have hardly worn anything else—no other pants match their comfort. The iPhone Pocket is of course ridiculous anyway.)

nathan_compton · a month ago
The pants cost around 500 bucks? I don't necessarily believe that a priori spending $500 on a pair of pants is irrational, but I really struggle to imagine any pair of pants being worth that much money unless they are lined with gold or something.

I usually buy cheap clothes and mend them and ten years for a pair of pants isn't unusual for me. I probably haven't spent $500 dollars on clothes in a year ever in my entire life (except maybe the year I bought a suit for getting married).

I guess I'm just genuinely curious how you found yourself in the position of even contemplating $500 for pants.

walletdrainer · a month ago
> but I really struggle to imagine any pair of pants being worth that much money unless they are lined with gold or something.

It depends on how much you earn. I don’t mind spending tens of thousands on Loro Piana cashmere because it’s really nice, but at my income level the price difference between that and Zara is pretty much immaterial.

Keep in mind that HN is packed with people with salaries above $1M/yr and entrepreneurs with way higher income levels.

A few years ago I too would’ve considered $500 for pants to be absurd, at this point I just go to a tailor and pay slightly more than that but save tons of time in the long term and always have perfect fitting pants. The time savings alone are tremendous, after getting a pair fitted properly I can just order new ones whenever I need without having to spend hours going through shops looking for the right pair of pants.

umpalumpaaa · a month ago
I never knew what a difference good pants can make. I usually just bought my pants from H&M/other retailers or Amazon. I usually bought what I considered good value pants for like $30-80. I then, out of curiosity, bought pants that were 2-4 times as expensive (~$150) and it really made a difference. I never really liked the pants I had… they never fit right… they felt very uncomfortable. The new pants I got about 2 years ago (the more expensive ones) were very very different. Very comfy. They also had a lot of nice features that I never knew I needed but that I now want by default…

- A button that just "clicks". Most pants I usually owned had a traditional pants button. Those more expensive ones had buttons that just "clicked". Away goes the worry about a button falling off while you are on the go. - Pockets with hidden zippers: My pants have pockets and in those pockets are smaller pockets with a zipper. Perfect to store things that are small and easily lost.

There are more "features" but those are the important ones. The most important feature is just the material that is used. I barely feel it. Also the company that makes those pants makes other things as well. I ordered a lot of cloths by now and the amazing thing is that everything they make fits me perfectly. I don't know how they do it… When I usually buy pants I have to try on like 10 pants to find one that fits. Even if I pick the "correct" size.

nluken · a month ago
Different strokes for different folks. I'm a fashion lover but a fan of cheap cars, and I could equally say something similar about people who drive new luxury cars when there's plenty of reliable functionality to be had under $10k. There's a lot of craftsmanship that goes into nice clothes, and you can get way more expensive than $500. And fashion is a form of art in a way. What makes a painting worth thousands of dollars?
kulahan · a month ago
$500 for something you might wear for a decade straight? A brand-new pair of Levis at JC Penny is gonna run you like $90 anyways. It's not that much more expensive.

But also, quality has diminishing returns in basically every category. At the low end, it's extremely efficient to improve the quality of your product and charge a bit more. At the high end, you can't make any more inexpensive moves to set yourself apart, so you use higher end materials, fabrication methods, and workers.

onion2k · a month ago
I don't necessarily believe that a priori spending $500 on a pair of pants is irrational, but I really struggle to imagine any pair of pants being worth that much money unless they are lined with gold or something.

I don't think Steve Jobs went shopping for pants. Nor do many of the people who buy this sort of garment. They either have an assistant who buys things for them, whose goal is to keep them happy and not blow a predetermined budget, or they go to a store and sit in a nice suite where a personal shopper suggests things to them. In either scenario the price of individual items probably don't even get a mention.

baggachipz · a month ago
I believe the word for it is "rich".
mmooss · a month ago
They save you from buying 10 pairs at $100. They not only are durable, including not fraying, etc., but keep their form and color, and they have a beautiful form and color to begin with. You get what you pay for (if you buy the right $500 pants).

Someone outside IT might say, why pay for a Macbook when you can buy a $100 Chromebook? Why use Vim or Emacs when you can use Notepad/TextEdit (though those all cost the same!).

ricochet11 · a month ago
I once paid $1000 for some sneakers. I’m still regularly wearing them 7 years later. I’ve bought $50/$100 and they never last that long. It was an insane purchase at the time, done in a moment of jet lagged madness when my shoes fell apart in an airport. But over time it’s turned out to be a great investment. Smart, comfortable, well made.
reaperducer · a month ago
I don't necessarily believe that a priori spending $500 on a pair of pants is irrational, but I really struggle to imagine any pair of pants being worth that much money

Maybe he's amortizing them.

He says they've lasted ten years, so that's $50/year.

If they last another ten, that's $25/year.

Oh, great. Now I've invented Pants-as-a-Service.

NaomiLehman · a month ago
decent hand-sewn raw denim made in the EU/US jeans are minimum $500. and i'm talking non-designer. just fair wages and good materials.
flyinglizard · a month ago
Don't rule out until you've tried it. High end clothing (not just brand name, but real advanced stuff) is pretty amazing in how it makes you feel. I'm inclined to spend on anything I interact with, and clothes is pretty big interaction.
cael450 · a month ago
Yeah, that is wild. I can't imagine spending that kind of money on pants.

Deleted Comment

iamacyborg · a month ago
Pro-tip. You can buy them used for a significant discount to rrp.
I_dream_of_Geni · a month ago
Gee... And I thought $5 spent at Starbucks was outrageous...
cons0le · a month ago
statistically, inheritance
thrw045 · a month ago
This is kind of getting into the weeds a little bit but for me and a lot of others luxury items can be fun to own. You can get an affinity for certain designers style, whether it's Gucci, Louis Vuitton or Balenciaga. The items are ridiculously expensive sometimes but it's kind of a tough line to balance because the fact that they cost so much make them more special. So how cheap should they be before they don't feel as special anymore? Is it all a bit irrational? I guess. There isn't a clear definitive defense for luxury items I think other than the feeling they can give. Some people can spend all their income on luxury items rather than other discretionary items because it's the most fun to them.
silisili · a month ago
I always liked this story because they seemed to connect person to person.

Sadly, Jobs died in 2011, and Miyake in 2022.

I guess you could call this a small homage, but it feels different in that their founders are gone and it's just corp to corp dealings now.

thevillagechief · a month ago
I got excited until I saw they cost $600? Once in a while I'm reminded we exist in very different universes. Still trying to justify splurging on common projects 2 years later.
sincerely · a month ago
in my experience as a tech guy who got into fashion and then after several years went back to not caring: Sneakers are the product category with the least differentiation in value-for-money between the high end (especially designer, but also not-designer-but-still-expensive like common projects) both in terms of aesthetics and quality/durability. You're paying $300 more for a 10% better product. Jeans, outerwear, knits, boots, you can more easily justify that cost
booleanbetrayal · a month ago
I am wondering what you call consumption that feeds $499 designer margins on polyester like that, while so many people can barely afford to scrape by day to day.
shermantanktop · a month ago
Income inequality is a phrase that pathologizes what appears to be a universal truth. In all types of economic and political systems (after we left the forest, and probably while we were still in the forest), some people have been desperately poor while other people are not. What would be interesting is a single counterexample of sustained "income equality."

That said, our current degree of inequality and the particular way it is distributed seems to be unusual and remarkable. But pointing to someone having a hard time is, IMO, not a critique of that.

sunnyps · a month ago
Have you tried Costco pants? They're pretty good.
qwerpy · a month ago
I had a coworker who lost a lot of weight and showed up at work one day wearing new clothes and looking sharp. The pants were from Costco. I have since gone and bought a few pairs of pants from them. They feel fairly high quality, made of sturdy and comfortable materials, and are wife-approved. And of course they are very inexpensive.

I'm sure expensive pants have their benefits but no matter how much money I have, I will always baby expensive things, and it's very inconvenient to baby clothes (e.g. must be dry cleaned, can't use a washer or dryer, can't risk getting stains on it). There are good reasons why dads gets their clothes from Costco.

iamacyborg · a month ago
Big fan of the Homme Plisse stuff but I do wish it wasn’t polyester.

It is a nice way to wear essentially a fancy pair of joggers while people assume you’re being somewhat smart though.

crossroadsguy · a month ago
I will look suspiciously at my Le Sel bottle after this collab.
butlike · a month ago
The brushstroke pants look really attractive
victor22 · a month ago
Who cares, Steve would have hated to sell a sock for $200, really makes you think how much they pay the chinese for the iphone
tacker2000 · a month ago
Sorry but 500 eur for polyester pants? Not even cotton?
OJFord · a month ago
You misunderstand, it's 20EUR for the trousers; 480 for the name printed on them. (And why you even want a name/logo printed on them...)
m463 · a month ago
I looked it up, and Issey Mikaye seems to have died in 2022.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issey_Miyake

I wonder

... would jobs have approved?

... would issey miyake have approved?

bborud · a month ago
I'm pretty confident the answer on both counts would be "no".

(This teminds me of a show I once saw where various design students were given the task to design things. Philippe Starck was the judge. One of the students made a iPhone cover and Starck almost blew a gasket. I don't remember exactly what he said when he saw it. But he pointed out that the iPhone itself was a beautiful design so defacing it with an ugly piece of plastic was just a horrific waste of resources.

He also said something about objects having to deserve to exist -- though that was probably in a talk he gave at some point. Where he pointed out that his famous Alessi sitrus press was a good example of a pointless object that shouldn't exist. At least it looked good, but it was a pretty poor sitrus press).

ivirshup · a month ago
Since Steve's famous turtle neck was from Issey Miyake and he wanted everyone at Apple to wear an Issey Miyake vest as a uniform [1], I think he might have been into this. This is also the man who launched the iPod sock.

[1]: https://www.npr.org/2022/08/10/1116769827/the-story-of-steve...

tempestn · a month ago
Had to double check the date here. This really is indistinguishable from an April 1 post.
ssharp · a month ago
I get the sentiment but was this actually some big launch announcement? When I look at the store online, you have to dig a bit just to even find the product.
coldtea · a month ago
It's embarassing enough that it exists as a product, regardless of the size of the announcement.
other_herbert · a month ago
I checked the url a couple of times to make sure it really was legit... I was certain there'd be like 3 p's or a non visible character in there...
kwanbix · a month ago
$149.95 (U.S.), and the long strap design at $229.95 (U.S.) plus tax. What a joke.
cpuguy83 · a month ago
Most expensive sock ever.
RandomBacon · a month ago
It's a joke even before looking at the price. "3D-knitted" WTF is that? Isn't all knitting in "3D"?

It's a crappy handbag, and it's just for a phone.

It looks like they had to use models to advertise it because they couldn't use "everyday people" in "everyday situations" to advertise because it looks like it would be garbage in that scenario.

Is Apple expanding to the "luxury" fashion market?

rvba · a month ago
I imagine that a lot of poor people will pay this, in order to try to show off as rich

Deleted Comment

jghn · a month ago
I've been seeing the headline going around today and have been assuming all day that it's some trending joke post. Nope!
bartvk · a month ago
Really? Why? I think it fits right in. Apple products are heavily designed, and this is a fashion item that adds something.
tempestn · a month ago
Inspired by the concept of "a piece of cloth", we give you this "3d-knitted" piece of cloth to put your phone in. It's kind of difficult to actually get a phone into and out of, and it looks a bit ridiculous, but don't worry, it's only $160 (unless you want the long strap).

Like, if you were doing this as an April Fools joke post, what would you even change?

MBCook · a month ago
Not GP, but it’s probably a personal thing.

I remember the iPod socks. Now make them bigger. Now stretch them out a bunch. Now make it look a little more like Borat’s speedo.

Now charge like 7x-10x what the iPod socks cost.

If the first place I had seen this was not a direct link to apple.com I too would’ve thought this was a complete joke.

bovermyer · a month ago
Kind of like those fashions where the model wears some kind of artistic interpretation of a yellow flower when really they look like they're wearing more of an art installation than functional clothing?

Dead Comment

lufasz · a month ago
lopis · a month ago
Suspiciously missing if the color shown in the press release, the one closely resembling the one Borat is using.
jtokoph · a month ago
If you change the "Size" on the store page from "Long" to "Short", the yellow is there. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/hs8r2zm/a/iphone-pocket-b...
fxtentacle · a month ago
Damn you! Can't unsee it now. ;)
bertili · a month ago
I saw it too before clicking the second link!
paulsmith · a month ago
lol I came here to post this too - perfect
fxtentacle · a month ago
Awww... I was so much hoping for an iPhone that will fit into my pocket. The 1st iPhone SE was the perfect form factor. But no, Apple's phones just had to grow and grow and grow like cancer ...

In my opinion, the fact that Apple is now selling a bag to carry your oversized phone around in, is an admission that they failed to make phones that are convenient to carry.

crazygringo · a month ago
> they failed to make phones that are convenient to carry.

I loved the iPhone SE and small phones generally, but at the same time I realize Apple's not failing at anything. They're giving the market the size people actually want. The smaller phones don't sell nearly as well. Most people prefer a bigger phone even if carrying it is less convenient.

I've just accepted my phone will be bulky now, so I double down and attach a magnetic wallet to it, and carry it in my hand or jacket pocket or bag rather than my pants pocket like I used to. During meetings it lies on the table rather then in my pants pocket. C'est la vie.

thesuitonym · a month ago
Maybe there's room in the world for a device people want, even if it's not the device the majority want? I mean I know Apple is just a small startup company with only a $4 trillion valuation, but maybe they could just do one thing that isn't maximally profitable once in a while.
mattgreenrocks · a month ago
What “the market wants” is a maximally addictive device. It’s a really low bar even if highly profitable. Bigger screens make it more exciting and addictive.

Just profoundly weird to me that small manufacturers can’t make small phones because they’re small and can’t pay for it, and large manufacturers can’t make it because…(checks notes)…they’re large and don’t want to pay for it even if there’s demand.

nvllsvm · a month ago
> They're giving the market the size people actually want.

No - call it what it is. They are catering to the largest market segments and ignoring the smaller segments who desire smaller phones.

Reasoning as to why is another thing, but it doesn't negate the existence of the segment who does want one.

fxtentacle · a month ago
"iPhone 16e Sales Lag Behind SE Models"

Ooops ?

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/03/iphone-16e-sales-lag-be...

Looks like the market did like the SE size.

jsheard · a month ago
I don't think they even set out to make a small phone with the SE, they set out to make a cheap phone. They achieved that by reusing older generation iPhone tooling which just happened to be smaller, as was the style at the time. When they refreshed the SE line it too got larger as it graduated to using later generation tooling.
Retric · a month ago
While small iPhones don’t sell nearly as well as larger sizes, I suspect they are still a very profitable product as Apple keeps releasing them.
crote · a month ago
> They're giving the market the size people actually want.

Are they, though?

In my experience the smaller phones are almost always substantially worse products: they have several gigabytes less RAM, usually half the storage of the alternatives, often lack features like wireless charging, have a slower CPU, have a worse camera, and in general are made using cheaper materials.

We don't know what the market wants, because the market was never able to make a fair choice. It wasn't "big phone vs small phone", it was "big full-featured phone vs shitty watered-down small phone" - no wonder people "chose" for the big phones.

the_gipsy · a month ago
Mind that there is also a feedback loop: applications only work correctly on bigger phone screens.
BeFlatXIII · a month ago
> They're giving the market the size people actually want.

Some people clear still want those small phones, just not enough for Apple's profit margins.

simplesimon890 · a month ago
If Apple produced an Iphone SE with battery life that lasted, by making it a little thicker, then people would buy it IMO. The problem with the small phones is they arecreated on the premise that they should be crappy phones.

Of course everyone has a different version of what they consider crappy but bad battery life has got to be at the top of most people's crap-o-meter

threetonesun · a month ago
Is it too big as a phone/SMS device? Yes. But as long as it's smaller than an equivalent digital camera or handheld gaming device or portable GPS it's still appropriately sized for how I mostly use it.
yapyap · a month ago
Can’t really want a smaller modern iPhone if no one is selling it.
Zak · a month ago
I suspect the iPhone Mini didn't sell well for reasons beyond people generally preferring larger phones, and suspect it might sell better today.

The biggest issue is that it was introduced in 2020 when many people were in lockdowns. A phone's portability was not as important, and people mainly using their phone at home on the couch likely preferred large screens more than usual.

The second issue is that the screens used slow pulse width modulation for dimming and could appear flickery for some users.

Finally, battery life was uncompetitive. Sony Xperia Compact models introduced years earlier had larger batteries. My guess is accepting a tiny bit more thickness would solve this problem.

hshdhdhj4444 · a month ago
Foldables…
kjkjadksj · a month ago
And yet, they sell, so people do want them.
dpark · a month ago
This is solving an entirely different problem than you imagine. This is solving the problem of “no one can tell I use an iPhone when it’s in my purse/pocket”. This is a conspicuous bag that loudly announces “I’m carrying an iPhone”. That’s what it’s for.

Also, can you actually not fit a phone in your pocket? I can fit the biggest iPhone in my pocket just fine in all of my pants. Conversely my wife cannot, but that’s because women’s pockets are vestigial. She couldn’t fit the 3GS in most of her pockets either.

port11 · a month ago
The price is incredible. Many phones on the market are cheaper than this accessory. Maybe the true market need is “people don't know how much disposable income I'm willing to throw at nonsense”.
walletdrainer · a month ago
> I can fit the biggest iPhone in my pocket just fine in all of my pants

New pro max fits perfectly fine in all my dressier trousers, it is rather big for some joggers though. Especially with Cuccinelli joggers it’s hard to get the phone to reliably stay in the pocket because they’re just not deep enough, so the top of the phone sticks through the opening.

The very easy solution to this has been to just buy joggers with reasonably sized pockets, Lululemon does not have this problem for example.

Ar-Curunir · a month ago
Anecdotally, just this past month I had a pair of good quality jeans from J. Crew wear out and tear at the pocket due to friction from my iPhone 13 Pro Max. The jeans are fairly lightly used.

I would love a smaller phone that doesn't kill my pants...

grishka · a month ago
Phones have grown, but people are the same size as ever. It's as if the industry has collectively forgotten what ergonomics is. It's especially frustrating for me as someone who is a comparatively compact person and who still considers the phone a secondary device mostly for use outside.
stetrain · a month ago
The industry has given consumers the choice, and they overwhelmingly prefer to spend their money on the larger phones.
gonational · a month ago
Literally this.

I'm typing this on an iPhone SE 2022 (the last one with a home button). I'm done with iPhone as soon as I am no longer able to use this model. I don't like the new, oversized pieces of junk, and I also like the home button as opposed to the new Face ID/swipe up workflow.

For people that have good visual acuity, the smaller screen is ideal; it's such high resolution that you can fit a lot of things in a small area. For people that turn the font size up to 600, the bigger screen is obviously ideal, but nobody really wants to have to hold something that is bigger if they don't need it for the screen size. That's the market I fit in and Apple has abandoned at market, along with all common sense (re: liquid glass, the recent Apple/Google Gemini deal, etc.).

rekoil · a month ago
I wish the iPhone 12/13 mini had been a few mm thicker for a bigger battery, and had been in the Pro class of devices. As it stands they didn't have a good enough battery to last a day, and most people interested in smaller devices had probably just picked up the new SE that was released just half a year earlier.
fxtentacle · a month ago
I believe the issue is that with Jobs gone, Apple's design team is now apparently unable to continue their job. Instead of developing their own UI paradigm for small screens, they keep copying from Google Pixel both the UI ideas and the screen size. And now that they ran out of useful ideas, they turned everything transparent. Why make the iPhone look more like Apple Vision when people so obviously hate the latter? [1]

My prediction is that the age of AI and LLM assistance will make tiny devices the norm. Like those AI pins. Like Siri inside AirPods. Like Meta's AR glasses. But it seems that Apple is losing the race here. They lost their edge when it comes to developing new user interface paradigms.

EDIT: [1] Bloomberg claims 10-15% return rate, which would be massive: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-02-18/apple-... (for comparison, Galaxus reports 2% as normal for Smartphones and <5% for Meta's Quest)

jajuuka · a month ago
This isn't a pragmatic item though. It's a fashion item. Similar to when Apple made the real gold Apple Watch. It's not a statement on the broader market, it's Apple associating its brand name with high fashion and prestige. They've done this for many years.
lynndotpy · a month ago
Yep. If someone is looking for a more functional item similar to this, Fjallraven sells a "Greenland Pocket" which I used to solve the "too much phone" problem. (And, unsurprisingly, costs many times less while doing much more.)

(I'm not associated with Fjallraven, I just enjoy this bag and think it makes the functionality of the Apple Pocket look even more ludicrous in comparison.)

nozzlegear · a month ago
> In my opinion, the fact that Apple is now selling a bag to carry your oversized phone around in, is an admission that they failed to make phones that are convenient to carry.

Can any woman with a purse or man with a fanny pack chime in and let us know if they've ever thought about putting their phones in their bags before?

phantasmish · a month ago
Blazers and sport coats.

They’re purses you can wear that also tend to make you look better.

They’re friggin’ great, and even the largest smart phones easily fit their hip pockets.

No more keys poking you through jeans pockets. No more sitting on your wallet. Even room for a smallish paperback book.

We never should have moved away from them. They’re a utility garment.

dpoloncsak · a month ago
Is this supposed to dispute the claim? A man putting his phone in his fanny pack would also signify apple's phones are inconvenient to carry. Apple releasing a 'solution' is them admitting it
keyringlight · a month ago
Yes, I do this because when I'm using my bike to get into work as it often involves more than one set of clothes and swapping everything between different pockets is annoying so I have a big 'unipocket' fanny pack, my 6.7" phone is still cumbersome in there making digging out other items annoying. And when I'm wearing some pairs of pants and the phone isn't angled just right it will dig into my hip while walking up stairs until it's adjusted. (and that's with a relatively budget android phone, smaller devices are a tiny niche of old less powerful devices that barely have support)
eigencoder · a month ago
I have a fanny pack. I usually put my phone, a notebook, my wallet, some band-aids, and a couple diapers. Sometimes I add a charger if I think I'll need it. It's quite convenient, and I basically don't put anything in my pockets. Phone sits on its charger or in the bag, usually.
kmoser · a month ago
> In my opinion, the fact that Apple is now selling a bag to carry your oversized phone around in, is an admission that they failed to make phones that are convenient to carry.

Marketing 101: Create a customer. Even if phones were small enough that there was no need for such a product, Apple's marketing team would convince you that you needed this product for [reasons].

jama211 · a month ago
It’s no such admission anyway, it’s just a random fashion accessory. Everyone takes everything apple does too seriously lol.
aczerepinski · a month ago
Same. I got so excited by the thought of a new iPhone that would fit in my pocket, but clicked on the link to see… phone socks?
calebm · a month ago
Same... back in my day, people worked to reduce the size of mobile phones. Call me old fashioned, but I still prefer small phones, which is why I still have an iPhone 12 mini.
frereubu · a month ago
This is not any kind of admission about phone sizes. This is an "exclusive" tie-in with a high fashion brand, nothing more.
stetrain · a month ago
> In my opinion, the fact that Apple is now selling a bag to carry your oversized phone around in, is an admission that they failed to make phones that are convenient to carry.

I think it's an admission that consumers prefer phones that are large enough that they have become inconvenient to carry in a pocket.

Some people have never had pockets big enough to comfortably fit even a smaller smartphone and have been carrying them in bags this whole time.

coffeebeqn · a month ago
I also thought it was like Gameboy Pocket - another small form iPhone. Yeah not too excited about whatever this sling is. I already have pockets
pmontra · a month ago
> I was so much hoping for an iPhone that will fit into my pocket

Yes, and I was about to write "so some Android manufacturer will copy Apple and deliver a phone of the size that was common 10 years ago."

Almost all of them are too large and they weight too much. 200 grams, why?

AlexandrB · a month ago
The worst part of this is the UI bloat that came along with it. Since there's no longer a need to consider smaller phones, everything got bigger and more padded also worsening the information density on larger phones.
DanHulton · a month ago
Absolutely this. I was so excited for a second that they were re-branding and re-launching the mini. My 13 is getting long in the teeth, and won't be supported for OS updates in a few more years.

Instead it's an ugly, phone-only purse.

Bleh.

graypegg · a month ago
Apple can pry my iPhone 13 Mini from my cold, dead, normal-sized hands.
flanbiscuit · a month ago
I was also hoping it was a small phone announcement but it not being part of a keynote didn't give me high hopes.

I've been on Android since day 1 but I'm thinking about switching to iPhone. If they ever made foldable (clamshell style, not book style) phone I would buy it immediately. I just want a small phone.

Yes I could get an Android foldable that already exists but I like to stick with Pixels and they don't have one yet and I'm kinda of done with Pixels. They are crap quality.

WD-42 · a month ago
I too thought we were finally getting a reasonable sized phone again.

Instead it’s an overpriced Apple branded jock strap.

dz0ny · a month ago
Yep We need iPhone mini. Every year the phone is bigger which is worse. Android is the same.
Cthulhu_ · a month ago
I had a look for covers, and I could only find silicone (?) or plastic sleeves and the 'handbag straps'. I think / suppose a lot of people just have their phone in their hand or on a table all the time, so why make it pocket sized?
1vuio0pswjnm7 · a month ago
"But no, Apple's phones just had to grow and grow like cancer ..."

Larger screens are better for advertising

Maybe there are more eyeballs on mobile than on larger form factors

Mobile OS are, with few exceptions, exclusively corporate-controlled. The corporations controlling the OS are enagaged in advertising services

Might make sense for them to try to increase mobile use for more tasks. Perhaps increasing screen size will help

I still have an old iPhone 4. Is it still possible to jailbreak and install some old software for experimentation. I'm not interested in using it to access Apple servers. All computers I own access the web through a TLS forward proxy. I see no advertising

Dead Comment

xattt · a month ago
One of the subtext reasons is that women’s’ clothing lacks proper pockets for whatever sexist reason, so a pocket you wear on the outside can seem like a great idea.
kspacewalk2 · a month ago
Surely you're not suggesting that modern women's fashion is governed by some vestigial sexism and not actual desires and wants of consumers who are otherwise spoiled for choice when it comes to any other property of their garments, whether functionality, style, colouring, percent coverage of any and all body parts, etc.
chaostheory · a month ago
The current form factors are what people are buying. Even the Apple design team is surprised. I think even iPhone Air sales aren’t as good as they projected
oldsklgdfth · a month ago
Reading this on a first gen SE. Still works great.

Since it can’t get the lastest OS many apps don’t install, effectively making it the type of dumb phone I always wanted.

Deleted Comment

duxup · a month ago
>that they failed to make phones that are convenient to carry.

It would appear people simply don't want them based on mini 13 and other sales.

phantasmish · a month ago
I want a tiny phone.

But I have kids, and am less willing to compromise on camera quality than I am size.

I’d pay the same price for a smaller phone if the camera specs (and ideally battery life—go ahead and make it a little thicker, they’re too thin anyway) were the same as the larger phones, but they’re not.

I bet those kinds of differences are what do it for a lot of folks. They’re like me and would prefer smaller, all else being equal—but all else is typically not equal, even compared to standard iPhones and not the ultra-high-end ones.

lunias · a month ago
I've been yelling into the void for smaller phones for ~15 years now. I get that I'm not the audience... I use a PC all day. I only use my phone for text communication, talking with my parents, maps, weather, and maybe a bit of web surfing while I'm waiting in line somewhere.

I see a lot of similarities between big cars and big phones: i.e. They're not really well suited to their most-common applications and there is also not much of another choice. The average person seems to just gobble it up without much thought though. Very strange from my perspective.

sixtyj · a month ago
When I had to buy an iPhone 13 because support for the 5s ended, my hands hurt from the big phone...
bambax · a month ago
I too was expecting a small iPhone. But this giant sock is hilarious. What are they thinking.
AndrewKemendo · a month ago
It’s a fancy colostomy bag for all your digital shit
pseudalopex · a month ago
Why sell someone a small phone when you could sell them a large phone and a watch?
pantalaimon · a month ago
I'm surprised trouser pocket sizes have not adapted to the larger phones.
Mawr · a month ago
I'm surprised hand sizes haven't either. Er, Apple is, apparently.
charcircuit · a month ago
iPhones have always fit in my pockets. Even in different types of pants and different brands. This is already the case and I don't understand how the iPhone isn't already pocket sized.
ngruhn · a month ago
I share the frustration. But apparently small phones don't sell.
criddell · a month ago
> small phones don't sell

It's all relative.

If Google sold five million iPhones Mini it would be considered a smash hit. But because it's Apple it's considered a flop because of the ridiculous sales numbers of their other models.

stockresearcher · a month ago
Apple sold 10-15 million of the minis each year, with a marketing budget of approximately zero.

The problem is that everyone believed Tim Cook when he claimed that this is a failure.

fxtentacle · a month ago
opens cupboard

iPhone 3GS

Galaxy S3

Sony XZ1 Compact

iPhone SE 2016

iPhone SE 2020

iPhone SE 2022

Unihertz Atom

qudat · a month ago
I was hoping for a zfold
evilmonkey19 · a month ago
I remember there was the iphone12 mini but it failed as people didn't want it. It was quite good honestly.
JKCalhoun · a month ago
In Soviet Russia, pocket fit phone.
echelon · a month ago
> speaks to the bond between iPhone and its user

With this phrasing, does it feel like iPhone owns its user?

crazygringo · a month ago
It's kind of hilarious to me when the tech world collides with the high-end fashion world. On the one hand, I get how absurd this seems from a tech perspective. On the other hand, dropping a couple hundred dollars on a fashion item that will be trendy for a season among a certain group... it's no different from any other high-end fashion accessory. It's just that the two worlds so rarely overlap.
acedTrex · a month ago
You can see just from this thread how the tech world reacts to the fashion world.
rchaud · a month ago
The fashion world's biggest sellers are handbags and shoes, which are practical purchases and tend to feature pretty intricate design details. This is a Speedo for a phone, and it makes Apple's already over-the-top descriptions of its products sound even more absurd.
qazxcvbnmlp · a month ago
HN commenter logic: 'if I don't understand it, this is clearly wrong'

'If someone doesn't spend money irrationally like I spend money irrationally its bad'

There is indeed a blind spot.

tokioyoyo · a month ago
I still firmly believe that it’s made for Chinese market, where it will sell really well.
conception · a month ago
It’s only being sold in one US store so your belief is not unfounded.
ocdtrekkie · a month ago
The Google Glass/DVF collaboration was a notable example of cringe in this area.

https://archive.nytimes.com/runway.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09...

jazzyjackson · a month ago
Compare with this Prada smartphone bag for 1470USD I don't know how many they sell every year but there's an audience.

https://www.prada.com/us/en/p/prada-speedrock-re-nylon-and-l...

morshu9001 · a month ago
These always overlap in dumb ways. Had to microwave my $400 Ferragamo wallet to kill the NFC chip inside that kept making my phone buzz.
lern_too_spel · a month ago
Apple has been a fashion brand for a few decades now.
chaostheory · a month ago
Apple is a fashion company when you think about it
parsimo2010 · a month ago
I’m so glad there are some people willing to pay over $200 for “a piece of cloth” which I assume is a translation issue but it sounds uninspired- who knew your inspiration for a bag could be the material that most bags are made of?

I especially like how it’s sized to fit almost any iPhone ever made. So not only are you getting a bag made of cloth, for over $200 it’s not even custom fitted!

Anyway, this product isn’t for me. I suppose enough other people will buy it.

Edit: I suppose the short version is under $200 but my sentiment hasn’t changed. Perhaps I’m even more cranky now that increasing the length of the strap costs $80. That’s the same level of rip-off that Apple charges for increased SSD storage on their Macs.

craftkiller · a month ago
I bought my current phone for $94 brand new. It can communicate with other devices over the air through literal magic. It has 2.5 million tiny lights, each independently controlled to be any color I want. It knows where I am anywhere on the planet. Through it, I can access an essentially infinite pool of entertainment, hail life-saving emergency services, perform monetary transactions, acquire food, etc.

This piece of cloth is twice the price and it can't even make phone calls.

downrightmike · a month ago
Literally not magic, but millions of patents and innovations that we understand down to the quantum level.

That's why the Romans could never make huge advances, they didn't understand the fundamentals. They knew using coal to make swords gave them better, harder edges, but they found it by raw accident, not knowing that the iron and carbon were combining atomically.

morshu9001 · a month ago
Green bubbles though
kulahan · a month ago
Surely you understand things like economies of scale, surplus inventories, etc.?

Not to mention, "number of lights" or "ability to communicate through the air" has no real bearing on its value, clearly.

GaryNumanVevo · a month ago
This is like complaining about the $400 Hermès band. The "iPhone Pocket" is obviously a luxury item from a high end designer, of course it's going to be expensive.
morshu9001 · a month ago
That's all fine, the problem is the product looks cheap and dorky
parsimo2010 · a month ago
Oh, I think those are ridiculous too, but they aren’t quite the same thing. All of Apple’s Hermès bands have “Hermès” in the name: https://www.apple.com/shop/watch/bands/apple-watch-herm%C3%A...

With this you don’t even get the designer in the name.

Plus, I can see spending money for things that are nicer or specially designed. There is a huge quality difference between a Loungefly bag made out of synthetic material and a Coach bag of leather (or even Louis Vuitton, although that is a big step up in price). But this iPhone bag isn’t that- 3D knitting isn’t even that special, you could just as easily put a cheap Android phone in this bag, and I don’t think it’s going to be any more durable than a moderately priced crossbody or small purse.