For the first few months after purchasing my iPhone 6, I was a daily Apple Leather Case user. I picked up the case more out of convenience than desire, but I never truly felt it served my needs. The case felt weak, unsupportive, and more like a leather-wrap than a protective case. I’ve kept an eye out for other potential alternative leather cases, but could never find one I really loved. The Apple Leather Case seemed so close to what I would have wanted, but the way it wore down was just not appealing to me at all. A lot of other leather cases are too bulky, have a built-in wallet, or are just utterly expensive. Then Mujjo released their Leather Case for the iPhone 6(s). As soon as I laid my eyes on it, I knew I wanted it. It looked strong without adding bulk, sported a beautiful tanned leather, and was priced fairly in comparison to competing cases.
The first time I got my hands on an iPhone 6, I immediately knew I would need a case. While I think the sizing is perfect, the iPhone 6 literally slips out of my hands all the time. It feels like I’m holding an intricately crafted aluminum bar of soap. I’ve had this constant battle whenever deciding whether or not to add a case to my iPhone. I love the aesthetic of the iPhone 6 as-is, but sometimes I just want to add that tiny bit layer of extra protection, style, and most importantly grip.
I really thought Apple’s leather case lineup for the 6 would fit in nicely, but it still left me with something to be desired. The images of the cases online were beautiful, made the case appear to not add too much bulk, and would help provide better grip. It really felt like a no-brainer for me. I picked up the Apple PRODUCT(RED) Leather Case as soon as I could and began using it as my daily driver.
I love that over time leather adopts and changes colors. It adds a bit of character and personality to the item. What I never expected was how fast this Apple Leather Case would discolor and how terrible it would look doing so. The corners on my Leather Case ended up turning an extremely dirty red, and even pulling the color from the inside of my jean pockets. I expected to use the case for at least six months, but this made me shy away from that. After a few months, I abandoned it all together and just went on using the phone naked.
I still have the Leather Case next to my bedside and use it on the days I know I’ll want to a little more protection, but I don’t dare bring it anywhere I wouldn’t want to show it off. I no longer consider it to be even remotely attractive. If I were to purchase the case again, I would definitely grab the black variant as it could easily mask the ugly wear the case goes through. Annoyed with Apple’s leather case, it was time to move onto a better and more attractive solution.
Mujjo was gracious enough to send me a review unit of their new leather case. I fell in love before I even opened it out of the packaging. The case’s packaging arrived in a small cloth tote bag, adding that extra touch of thought and beauty to the experience. It almost felt like I bought a new pair of designer sunglasses. I’m not sure if this was the normal customer unboxing experience, but I was happy regardless.
The vegetable tanned leather case was even nicer in person. Images online don’t really do it justice. It looks and feels even better than I imagined it would in real life. It had an extremely soft, almost silky touch, while still feeling very durable in my hand. It had that unmistakable true leather smell, not that weird plastic fragrance that surrounds a new Apple Leather Case.
The inside of the case is suede-lined adding a bit of extra protection as to not scratch the back of the phone. I hated buying cases that looked great on the outside, but the inside just had a hard plastic. Whenever those cases got dirt and debris stuck behind it the back of the phone would usually suffer at least a few scratches.
via GIPHY
For this review, I picked up a brand new Apple Leather Case in Saddle Brown as a comparison. I wanted to be able to better judge how a new Apple Leather Case would feel in hand. Flexing and toying with Apple’s case in my hand, I realized the advantage that Mujjo built directly into their case. Apple had opted to build out their leather cases as fully leather, and forfeited any reinforcement. This makes the case flimsy as it can easily bend in your hand when the phone isn’t placed into it. Mujjo’s leather case supersedes Apple’s here by including a sort of “shell” between the suede lining and leather exterior.
Mujjo’s case is better described as a case with leather wrapped around a plastic shell, with a suede interior. While at first I wasn’t pleased knowing the case had a plastic interior and only a leather wrapping, it quickly grew on me. I could maintain the beauty of a leather case, with the reinforcement of a hardened shell. Comparing it to a brand new Apple leather case and my old one, it’s evident that including the interior shell was the way to go for structural integrity.
Surprisingly, this addition doesn’t add a lot of bulk to the case. The phone feels a tiny bit thicker, but the added grip, protection, and look is worth it. This is all probably due in part to the soft leather exterior. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the leather just feels great. It’s soft and smooth, almost like silk, but unmistakably leather.
The suede interior did feel and look weird, but I knew it’s not an area me or anyone else would be looking at often.
Mujjo’s shell extend a little bit past the leather wrapping to give a small lip around the case. It helps when placing the phone face down on a table, or when pulling it out of jean pockets. Apple’s case would rub against the edge of my pockets and slowly began pulling away color from my pants, and onto the leather. I still believe this is the primary reason that mine discolored so quickly.
I’ve never been a fan of cut-outs in a case. It always made me feel like the case was incomplete adding that. Mujjo’s case has cut-outs at the top, bottom, and sides of the case. After using it daily for a week, I really began to grow a new appreciation for it.
The open bottom makes it so that a user could easily dock it into a multitude of docks, like Apple’s iPhone Lightning Dock, without having to remove the case each time. The cut-outs on the side added a physical advantage that I lost with the iPhone 6’s smooth feel. To this day, I can still rarely tell what button my finger is on when I pick it up. Is it the volume buttons? The side sleep/wake button? The buttons are so smooth and not immediately intuitive that I would often turn up the volume instead of waking my phone when I meant to. Mujjo’s decision to add cut-outs on the side have helped me out. The sizing difference in the cut-outs on the side made it clear as to which button was underneath my fingers at any given time.
After just a few days of using the case everyday, I already began seeing the color change and adapt to my usage. It’s something I really appreciate. The patina became this beautiful darker brown leather along the edges, while the back remained a lighter color. It added character to the case immediately, and made me feel like it truly was mine. A pair of joggers I own have zipper teeth in the pocket, and unfortunately those did frequently catch and “scratch” some of the case a bit. The case started looking showing light scars along it, but I really loved it. These scratches and color changes became a small visual journal of my device’s usage.
At the end of the day, Mujjo’s leather case is no doubt going to be go-to iPhone case. It’s a beautiful accessory that not only adds an additional bit of style to my device, but offers protection in an attractive manner. It’s easily a fan favorite too as various friends and family members have complimented it.
Have any questions about the case, or feel like I’ve missed something? Feel free to reach out to me at @gregbarbosa or by leaving a comment below.
