Apple unveils iPhone Pocket with Miyake Design Studio - here's what it does

Netizen reactions to Apple's launch of the iPhone Pocket, which was designed in collaboration with Miyake Design Studio, have been mixed. Supporters like its design, but critics say 'not worth it'

Apple Launch iPhone Pocket, iPhone Pocket Price: Apple has once again sparked debate online — this time, not with a new gadget, but with a fashion accessory. The tech giant has launched the iPhone Pocket, designed in partnership with Japan’s Miyake Design Studio, for a starting price of $149.95, going up to $229.95 for the long crossbody version.

 

It is designed to securely store your phone and tiny accessories like lip balm or AirPods. Following the iPhone Pocket's release, opinions on the internet were sharply split. Some believed that the item was Apple's way of embracing its history with pockets, while others thought it was just an expensive “iPhone sock.” 

What is iPhone Pocket and its design?

According to Yoshiyuki Miyamae, design director at Miyake Design Studio, the iPhone Pocket “speaks to the bond between iPhone and its user” and celebrates “the joy of wearing an iPhone in your own way.”

 

The accessory pays homage to Issey Miyake, the legendary Japanese designer known for creating Steve Jobs’ iconic black turtlenecks. Though the two visionaries admired each other, this marks their first official collaboration, albeit posthumously.

 

Since the 2015 Apple Watch Hermès cooperation, this is Apple's first significant fashion relationship. The iPhone Pocket features flexible pleats that give it strength and softness, in keeping with Miyake's Pleats Please line. 

 

Miyamae and a small group from Issey Miyake collaborated with Apple's Cupertino design team to create prototypes, some of which were even built out of origami paper. He claimed that everyone brainstormed freely throughout the teamwork, which resembled "a jazz session."

Apple iPhone Pocket colour design and packaging details

According to Molly Anderson, vice president of industrial design at Apple, the collaboration "wasn’t planned" but developed organically. Both groups collaborated without hierarchy or coercion and had similar innovative ideas. 

 

By pure accident, one of Miyake's suggested colours, mandarin orange, ended up matching Apple's unannounced iPhone 17 "Cosmic Orange." It was "a lovely moment" according to Anderson.

 

Inspired by Japanese candy bags used during children's festivals, the iPhone Pocket is packaged in frosted paper. It is like "opening a gift full of candy," according to Miyamae. 

 

According to Apple, this demonstrates how consumers now view their phones as stylish accessories. The device, according to Anderson, enables Apple to be "more playful in color, branding, and material."

A tribute to Steve Jobs and Miyake

According to Miyamae, the partnership pays tribute to the late Steve Jobs and Issey Miyake. "Both these great masterminds are now gone, but we continue to challenge ourselves to create new and original things," Vogue quoted him as saying.

 

The iPhone Pocket will be on sale on November 14 online and in some Apple Stores in the US, France, Greater China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and the UK. Steve Jobs mockingly referred to the $29 iPod Socks as a "revolutionary new product" back in 2004. Though far more costly, the new iPhone Pocket feels like a luxury take on the concept.

Netizens react to iPhone Pocket

Many users made analogies between the iPhone Pocket and the iPod Socks, which Steve Jobs first introduced as a joke at one of his lectures but which have since gained popularity as a protective item for Apple's iPods.

 

One user wrote on X, “I hope it will remain compatible with iPhone 18 next year. Can I use the Polishing Cloth on it? Will it need AppleCare+? So many questions". A user hinted at another infamous Apple product, the Polishing Cloth.

 

“AI is changing the world right now, and what is Apple launching? A completely overpriced iPhone Pocket. Steve Jobs would have never done that,” commented another user.

 

“The Issey Miyake influence explains the texture... and that price tag. It feels like the original iPod Socks just got a runway promotion. $230 is steep for a strap, but the long version is absolutely going to sell out by Friday noon,” commented another.

 

“No one here will understand it, but it’s okay. This will be a very, very popular item for richer Asian office ladies. They love Issey Miyake,” another user noted.