iPhone Pocket: $229.95
"The design drew inspiration from the concept of "a piece of cloth"
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/introducing-iphone-pocket-a-beautiful-way-to-wear-and-carry-iphone/Open linkView original on sh.itjust.works465
Comments141
Looks at URL.
Looks at URL.
This can't be real. Checks URL again.
...What the fuck? This has to be hack or something. There's no way a human being wrote that article, and didn't know what they were doing.
it's so stupid I'm still not convinced it's real.
I know a lot of normies have iPhones because it's a phone and they see it as a good phone. Fair enough (shitty monopolistic behaviour and Americans' - yes, this is not a thing in my country - weird ostracisation of green text bubbles notwithstanding)
But Apple is also the brand that made phones a "status symbol".
I can very easily believe this.
There will be an upsetting number of people that buy this glorified, and much less useful, shoulder bag.
yeah I understand your point.
it was the year 2005, and I was rocking the tmobile MDA with a data plan. I showed folks around me the touch screen and browser and they were like NNNEERRRRD.
2 years later they were flicking little paper wads into a little garbage can on their iPhone 3 and raising their pinky in the air as if they were the technical elite.
Soo yeah
Real homies remember that game they had on the palm pilot to learn the handwriting shorthand haha
Seems I'm a bit younger than you, but for some reason this is in my core memories folder.
"This can't be real. Checks URL again."
Dude! I was doing the same thing. I kept thinking, "Is this some new form of prank that hides the url somehow?"
I can’t stop laughing at this comment. I think that’s what we all did!
I did the same, but also double checked the date to make sure this wasn't some weird April fools that got missed
This was my EXACT experience. How was this not satire?
And with all that piffle, they never actually tell what it's made from. I assume some kind of acrylic? In which case it will snag and pill like crazy and look complete crap within a month.
I should start knitting these for Christmas gifts.
Here I thought it was going to be a small screened cheap iPhone and I was excited for a minute.
LOL
I mean, they have done it. When I was looking at phones a few years back, it was genuinely a toss up between a Pixel 4a and an iPhone SE. If all you need it to be is a cameraphone, then both were good options.
Even now, the iPhone 16e is a relatively inexpensive phone when considering its featureset, but I would prefer a "mini" or newer SE variant instead.
Compared to other flagships they're not outrageously expensive
OK? They're also fuckin' expensive
I won't argue that. But they're not like, uniquely expensive.
I think the problem people have with the iPhone is that all of them are expensive. Whereas Samsung make the A Series and there is the Pixel from Google. If you want to pay extra and get a more expensive phone that's an option, whereas with Apple that basically isn't a possibility.
Yep
Although the real budget option is just to buy last year's models. The iPhones have actually really powerful processors - having one a year or two old that you can get new for really cheap is really not much of a drawback.
Well, they are more expensive, and have more expensive options.
That's exactly what I was thinking too. Like an iPhone nano or something. The laugh I let out when I saw what it actually was though, I really needed that today.
Very disappointed that’s not what this was.
Personally, I'm saving up for the "Apple Stick and Bindle", the nouveau-hobo accessory of the season.
I thought it was going to be a new form factor iPhone that could fit comfortably in your pocket.
Why in the hell would they make something people want?
-me and my iPhone 13 mini dreading an “upgrade”-
We've come full circle.
Also, I wonder if this is some kind of scheme to park the "iPhone Pocket" name for a bit in case they want to make a phone called that in 10 years.
I suppose if they ever make a flip phone with a folding screen that would be a good name for it.
Full sock-le?
What the actual fuck.
I've commented on here before how women's clothing generally doesn't have large-enough pockets for smartphones. A lot of modern women's clothing is form-fitting, and has small pockets.
So either you revise the clothing or add some kind of wearable bag/pocket.
Used to be that women wore dresses, had slits in the skirts that they could reach through, and then had sorta wearable pockets on beneath them. But full skirts are pretty dead now, so:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket
When I first ran into this, I thought "well, put the phone in your purse then, dammit, you're already carrying that for feminine hygiene products". Problem is that women don't haul (bulky) purses everywhere --- walk into the office, say, set down the purse at the desk, and it's mostly staying at the desk. I don't know any women who wear their purses around the house. But they do want to keep the phone available all the time.
And the smartphone is a pretty ubiquitous item to want to carry around now.
So unless women's clothing changes to have large pockets and somehow deals with not messing up the body's silhouette or whatever makes that a problem or the smartphone form factor changes ("big smartwatch?"), I expect that people have to wind up with some kind of mini, wearable container. Like this.
I mean, this is a absurdly priced solution, but that's a fair point.
It's stupid fashion's that way. I always thought that when I saw girls sticking phones in their shorts waistbands or whatever.
We should go back to the future:
Or even better, improve it:
And have shorts like that too? I dunno, I'm not a fashion expert, but still.
I mean, I like the Lara Croft thigh holster route, but that might chafe.
And if you're wearing it the way the male model is, you can probably add an outer shirt or jacket and wear it like an underarm money belt in less-secure environments. I have one of those that I repurposed for carrying a tablet. Looks very similar to this, though not the same brand or type of fabric:
https://www.amazon.com/Multi-Purpose-Anti-Thief-Security-Underarm-Messenger/dp/B077GD5C27
Kind of like a very thin purse with a padded, short strap that's intended to optionally hide under one's clothes.
You don't need something that large to carry a phone, though. The sort of smaller thing that they're doing here is big enough for that.
Yeah, utility belt/sling over bags!
The thigh holsters seem a bit impractical though. If we're diving into more fiction fashion, how about the pocketed Normandy crew uniform from ME?
I like those little built-in squares on the thighs.
Oh I'm not at all reacting to the usefulness. I'm reacting to the price of the item. Pockets on women's clothes are a bit of a disaster.
Eh, I mean, I wouldn't buy it, but then I wouldn't buy Apple products in general, as they're all gonna carry a premium. They sell into kinda a low-end luxury market. I dunno how many people remember back when Apple introduced the white earbuds with the iPod and had a marketing campaign focusing on their color, at a time when headphones were pretty universally a more-subtle black, to make it very obvious that what someone had in their pocket was an iPod.
For some luxury goods, the point is to visibly show the item to others, to demonstrate that you can afford the item, engage in conspicious consumption. Then you get Veblen goods:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
So people can prefer a higher-priced item, specifically because it lets them show off that they can afford it.
And if you figure that the closest thing to the "phone pocket" is women's purses, well...that's historically been a product category that sees a fair number of members that are Veblen goods, a lot of pricey items designed to show that their wearer can afford them. Like, a designer handbag isn't really any more functional than a far-less-expensive equivalent, yet lots of people buy them.
https://www.hermes.com/us/en/category/women/bags-and-small-leather-goods/bags-and-clutches/
Those are pretty hefty prices for the functionality you're getting.
If you figure that a phone pocket probably fills more-or-less the same fashion role, then I wouldn't be surprised if the potential to sell luxury phone pockets is comparable to that to selling luxury handbags.
Apple already kinda sells towards a low-end luxury market, so I expect that Apple's probably making a not-unreasonable move in trying to feel out whether there's potential for that among their customer base.
I wouldn't pay much for a luxury container for a phone, but that's me. My pockets fit my phone just fine, so I'm not even in the market in the first place. But...doesn't mean that Apple isn't making the right move from a business standpoint for them, I think.
EDIT: A quick kagi later, it sounds like the proper industry term is "affordable luxury" rather than "low-end luxury":
https://themetropolitan.metrostate.edu/iphone-17-apple-transforms-smartphones-into-symbols-of-affordable-luxury/
“a piece of cloth” huh ::: spoiler borat wearing very little :::
That was my first thought!
Very nice!
Like many, I thought for a microsecond that they actually brought out a new phone model that will fit in a pocket.
But no, of course they didn't. Because why the fuck would anyone want that.
I'm so sick of this trend of trying to make the phone as thin as possible and then the camera bump has prominent as possible, completely negating any benefit. My partner would definitely like a thinner phone and would probably buy a phone that didn't have the camera bump because it didn't have any camers, if it meant a thinner phone that would actually fit in her pocket.
Either that or keep the camera bump and just thicken the whole phone out and give me a larger battery and the apparently too big to fit 3.5mm audio jack.
What I don't get is why they don't make a model with more battery space to flatten out the back. I would love a phone with 10Ah instead of 3Ah and I already carry a battery pack for this exact reason. The lack of options is super annoying.
Oh God I feel dumber having read this. How is this not the onion?! A 3D knitted construction? Really?
It’s the iPod sock of the 2020’s
With heavy inflation
I love this. This is perfect for Apple people.
It's really not.
Apple seems to disagree with you.
Profit: $229
It's great! Costs about zero energy to produce, takes money from idiots, what's not to love?!
“Never give a sucker an even break”.
The Flimflam man
And is made of polyester, microplastic
Would you rather one spend $230 on a little piece of shit like this or a new pair of tires? Bit relative isn't it?
People thinking this is a joke or laughing at this don't seem to remember when Apple released what was essentially a sock for your ipod video. or how about the $1000 monitor stand? or the wheels for your Powermac that cost hundreds of dollars.
This is Apple folks. If they can find a way to nickle and dime their gullible cultish user base they will do it. They've been doing it since...well since the company was founded.
False. The IIgs was amazing.
The monitor stand and wheels for the Mac are targeted towards businesses. The same kinds of businesses that will spend $1000 per chair on ugly and uncomfortable office chairs.
Those $1000 chairs are not uncomfortable. A lot of the price is also the warranty and they are much cheaper for a business bulk purchasing.
I love picking up Aeron or similar stuff used. They’re great chairs and a used one isn’t any more expensive than those horrible racing style chairs but will actually last and be comfortable for over a decade. My current one is a 2006 model and still going strong.
A very good chair is important, it doesn't have to be a $1,000 chair, but, never returning to the back-crushing racing chair.
It looks like the bathing suit that Borat wore to the beach.
Well, not a fan, exactly, but I am forced to be fully engulfed in the apple ecosystem.
I don’t hate them more than Dell, Asus, Sony, or Microsoft. Not everything they make is a ripoff.
Main issue I have with that company is the ridiculous pricing of SSD or RAM upgrades. I'm not paying $200 for extra 256gb, we're not in 2008 anymore
And that it can't be upgraded after purchase
Edit, went to watch the price of the 256gb SSD upgrade and I was wrong. It's not $200 but it's €250 👍🏻
Edit2: I was also wrong about the SSD pricing in 2008, they're selling it at year 2012 prices, not year 2008 prices
Uh, I think you are agreeing with my last point…? You savvy user you.
Yes but it's annoying to being forced to workaround the issue with USB drives..
Also I'd like to get 32gb or 64gb because it's shared with GPU... But a Mac mini with 64gb costs 2500 euro (THREE TIMES!!!) instead of the 750 euro base model with 16gb...
I think that is funny
Yeah true skimming eh! Fuck Apple.
Yes it's annoying, which is why storage on the list. I have different but equal complaints about other manufacturers.
FWIW I usually advise a compromise at 512GB as that is enough for most current working active projects, then periodically offload to a media or archive drive. Most clients are fine with that.
In the cases where 32GB of RAM is needed and not just nice to have, maybe a different computer is better, like LLM capable machines with discrete GPUs. If you need more RAM for professional purposes like Vectorworks, well it’s a write-off and the cost vanishes compared to ROI so whining is just indulgent.
Personally I wouldn't call the MacBook air good value for money. It's not a bad computer but it's very expensive for the specs you get. You're basically paying for it to be very thin and really it's no more portable than the normal MacBook because when you think about it obviously it isn't because if the MacBook wasn't portable it would be a mini desktop.
Well the MBA has some standout features:
Honestly, oranges to oranges, I consider the Air as competing with more expensive business class laptops with more ports and bigger numbers, but worse end user experience.
iPads cant even send SMS or make calls. The most gimped of tablets.
The rest of your list seems reasonable
Meh, in my fairly extensive experience with end users, they don’t care about that, they have phones. Different use-case.
But I recognise that we’re here amongst many fussy edge-case users. Still the best tablet by majority acclaim even if you can’t use it as a phone.
I must have a weird sample then. My uncle specifically wants that because he doesn't want to have a separate phone. So he has a Galaxy Tablet. And a colleague at work recently inquired how she would log in to the phone company website to charge the prepaid plan if she can't get the login SMS.
Yep, most people seem to have cellphones, and if you wanted to use a tablet as a phone I would suggest an android tablet (or a cheap used smartphone, TBH).
Since I started moving my family over to Apple, the amount of tech support I needed to do for them dropped to almost zero. It just works. I have my Raspberry Pis and Linux boxes for fun and my MacBook for when the computer needs to get out of the way and let me work.
That said, I have zero interest in buying this absurd fashion accessory ;)
I used to work in Apple tech support and trust me the people who buy iPhones are the least tech savvy people in the world. People dwelling in caves in prehistory would have been more capable than your average Apple customer.
A good chunk of them found the concept of plugging your iPad in occasionally to be beyond comprehension. Also that their Wi-Fi didn't have a 600 mile range and no it wouldn't work if you were in a different country.
You've just reminded me of my late sister, who insisted she could access my WiFi from 300 miles away. "How else am I getting internet?" A mystery for sure.
I focus on the hardware, OS and ecosystem which are all very good for my use and just shake my head at things like this and move on. It’s not like I approve or feel like I have to approve of everything a company does to use their products. Of course the more attuned they are to my needs the more I like them. And Apple has been a mixed bag over the years. Then again so has everyone else.
As a recovering Apple user, the hardware really is very, very good.
I have an M2 MacBook Air that is, quite frankly, the fastest computer I've ever used. Running Window in a VM within it gave me the fastest Windows computer I've ever used. I've had it two years and still get all day out of the battery. It can export a two hour AIFF recording of my radio show from Reaper in around 10 seconds. In the two years I've had it there have been perhaps three occasions where I wished I'd opted for a Pro instead.
I also have an iPad mini which is a ridiculously useful little tablet, when used in conjunction with my MacBook.
However, over the past year I've been drawing further away from their ecosystem, to the point that I mostly only use the MacBook to present my radio show because it's fanless so doesn't cause any noise issues when my mic's open. And that's as a direct result of Apple being a trash company run by corporate fuckheads who would sooner capitulate to fascists than actually fucking stand for something.
So yeah, very few of us do actually support them.
apple is cool.
lemmy people aren't cool. they are practical.
practical people are the antithesis of cool people. cool people don't care about value or function.
hence why they pay $1000s for wear it once clothing.
MacBooks are pretty practical. ARM laptops like MacBooks have genuinely ridiculously good battery life; I was genuinely shocked the first time I used one.
Yes, ARM windows exists, but it's clunky and has little support because unlike MacBooks, not all Windows laptops run ARM, so developers have little incentive to make ARM Windows versions their apps.
Yeah agreed, have one at work. I just really dislike their software.
battery life and simplicity thats why. i used it while in COllege, and i can see why people own even the older ones.
So, a knee-high sock with a slit on the side. For $230 US.
Apple users are so fucking stupid.
does it bother apple that it is compatible with all other phone brands?
Probably not. Can you imagine someone with a non-Apple phone not being willing to buy an iPhone, but being willing to buy one of those?
I cannot imagine anyone getting that phone cumsock to parade around
How are we getting so dumb? Worst of all, notoriously dumb. A bit of "under the surface stupidity" is tolerable, however, we're well beyond the rubicon of stupid.
The boomers were on to something when they called us "darn idiots".
So a typical cross body bag?
No. Those can be useful. This can only hold your phone.
Many years back, I kept my ipod classic in an old sock to protect it while it banged around inside my bag. My buddy made fun of me for it, little did he know that my sense of fashion was just far ahead of its time.
Tangentially related. I used to go out on boats a bunch meant years ago. Lost a moto Razer when they were still kinda new. Was bummed, but learned. So I bought what at the time was a kinda nice Nokia(one of the first bar phones with blue tooth) and put it in a condom and tied it off. Could still use it fairly normally, and there was enough air to keep it floating the few times it fell in. Caught on with some of my cohorts, others got a very expensive lesson in laughing at me.
A literal fucking pocket, as I expected. SMDH
It's pathetic that they
couldn'trefused to offer more than a handful of colors for their "piece of cloth". And "3D-knitted construction"? Fuck off.Also, that thing looks like a pickpocket's wet dream.
Some people might find this shocking…. But a lot of knitting is already 3D. It’s not a very novel concept.
eeWHAAAAaaaaa???!
I bet the $9.95 is the production cost.
Lmao prob move the decimal over 2 spots to the left
Yeah, shoes cost that much to produce. Maybe one decimal.
It's an iphone purse
iTubeSock
i Pass
It'll just make idiots even more identifiable
Over two ton for something you could get your abuela to knit you for next to nowt.
This is a sock that has been sewn shut and a cut in the side. I love knowing people will buy somthing so useless for so much money. An actual small bag the can hold other items too is more functional and cheaper.
To be fair I looked into the pretentious fashion company behind this and they sell small bags for like >$600 so I guess this is kind of a bargain if you’re into that world
Reminds me a bit of an upside down panty hose.
For that price, buy a sewing machine and make something better, like clothes with pockets.
The Lorax
I can’t browse the announcement page without thinking of Borat
First off, yes, this is a pretentious sock bag for rich people.. or “aspirational” or design-focussed people, let’s say.
But it makes perfect sense.
I mean tbh some of these are more whimsical and interesting, but probably don’t hold as broad appeal, so the bag sock it is. This is actually pretty boring news now I’ve read a lot more about Issey Miyake. Potentially that’s on Apple, they spent most of their collaborative time shitting on whimsy? Maybe? Probably just the broadest, cheapest (to produce!), most marketingest thing they could excrete. It’s a bit sad really.
The pattern on the inside is weirdly a lot nicer.
“It makes perfect sense” is a funny way of saying “its the word “pretentious” made of cloth with a profit margin % in the six digits by one of the worlds greediest, shittiest companies in a sea of companies that stand out for their shitty greed”.
That is what I said, but sorry I used too many words to say greed as a motive is too simplistic
Not trying to be a contrarian here but I don’t believe just the word “greed” covers 230 dollars for a phone sock.
It’s cartoonishly exaggerated greed, and the fact that most people will just shrug and go “That’s Apple!” Is part of the problem. Instead of the general populace looking at this, expressing the correct amount of disgust, and watching the shitty company burn to the ground, people celebrate and anticipate their releases.
Fucking mind boggling.
Probably like other accessories it’s the manufacturer who sets the RRP, but yeah, as usual, they’re going to be happy to get their cut.
Tim Cook has turned Apple into the company it is today through that (clearly revolting) ethos.
I forgot to put industrial weaving machine into the LLM, and well top result is now:
Followed by a pouch and a sash… so really I have to wonder if actually this was just a lazily AI generated idea all along.
They should collab with women's jeans manufacturers to make sure the pockets are big enough for a phone.
I feel like the people who buy these types of things are trying to fill a hole in their souls.
The secret to apple is: wait 10 years, buy it for next to nothing: enjoy.
Or wait 4 Years and buy a decent Linux thinkpad
Well if we’re talkin linux the sky’s the limit.
Can't you already get this on amazon for $20? I might have missed it, but I can't even find what material it's made out of.
If you can’t already, you’ll surely be able to find cheap knockoffs in a week’s time.
The iScrote?
haha. that was my exact thought as well: looks like a nice banana hammock
I can literally crochet this in under an hour.
Cross body phone sock.
Looking at the comments, Im so glad Im not the only one seeing a big sock with strap... lol.
I think it’s even worse than that. It’s just a gym sock with a slit cut down the middle to form the straps.
You could make one of these for like a dollar. And some spare time. Probably even cheaper if you already have an old gym sock laying around.
I'll put it right next to my $999 monitor stand!!!
"WEAR YOUR ***SOCK WITH PRIDE FOR ONLY 1.7 DAYS WORTH OF PAY"
-Created with Epstein in mind-
Or you could knit one and it would cost a small fraction of that. Etsy business incoming.
okay i hate apple but im actually upset about issey miyaki(also rip). like what the fuck happened?!
where's the interesting designs and the shit ton of zippers :/
capitalism breeding innovation right before our eyes!
Sock jokes aside, remember police need probable cause to search your person/pockets, but not your purse/bag.
That's not true. Bags typically require a probable cause/warrant to search. If you are arrested, it can be searched. That is the same for anything on your person though.
I’m here having to plan my meals and apple does shit like this. I can’t help but 😂.
Man, I got excited for a moment they brought back the SE line, but at an even cheaper price.
I knew it couldn't be true, not with Apple, but, it is what I first thought.
perfect to get your iphone stolen from your shoulder
Inspired by the barracks makeshift meteor hammer weapon - hard soap in a stocking. * Fullmetal Jacket
Genius move by apple tbh
Nike should have its logo on it, teens will be crazier about it.