World enews: Dbrand says ‘you’ll die before’ its iPhone 15 Pro Ghost Case yellows

Dbrand has a new $50 clear case, called the Ghost Case, for several flagship phones — including the iPhone 15 Pro phones Apple will announce today. And Dbrand says it’s “literally impossible” for it to turn yellow. That’s a tall claim, but Dbrand insists that the matte black that frames the case makes it so. The cases will start shipping in October, but you can preorder them now.

Dbrand pins the anti-yellowing feature on the two-tone design. CEO Adam Ijaz told The Verge in an email that “it’s a blend of materials, post-processing, and — most importantly — deliberate industrial design choices.” More on this later.

Dbrand describes the cases as grippy and the buttons as clicky and tactile and claims it can withstand a 10-foot drop. The company has versions for other phones, too; the iPhone 14 Pro phones, Google Pixel 7 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S22 / S23 Ultra are also, err, covered.

The Dbrand iPhone 15 Pro case, all together.

Image: Dbrand

All of the cases will have built-in MagSafe magnets so you can slap whatever phone you have onto one of Apple’s magnetic-charging pucks and reap the benefits of perfect charging alignment. The Ghost Cases, irrespective of the phone they’re on, are all 1.2mm thick.

Ijaz gave more details about how the company overcame an intrinsic yellowing issue with TPU — a flexible material often used for clear cases. While some companies use polycarbonate instead as it doesn’t yellow, it also doesn’t flex well or look as “clear” and blending it with TPU just delays the inevitable, he said. Instead, the Ghost Case uses TPU only for the opaque portions, while polycarbonate makes up the rest, and the design helps it “look and feel like a clear case,” according to Ijaz.