iPhone 12/Pro/Pro Max Leather case patina not developing compared to previous leather cases

I have the same issue, I got the California poppy last February, I only carry the phone in my bag or my pocket, standing in my desk most of the time or in my hands and both back and front edges have completely worn off leaving a brownish color underneath.

there’s not patina at all... very disappointed on the quality, the price is quite high for this product :/

Unbelievable. I just purchased the iPhone 13 Pro and I’m hating giving them business when they downgrade accessories from a quality standpoint. To be politically correct The leather case is no longer a supple tanned coach like rich tan hide and is below par and unacceptable from a customer user experience… or in plain and simple English … it’s a piece of plastic painted garbage and sucks!

When will Apple address this!

I have only had my saddle brown iPhone 12 mini MagSafe case for a couple of months and the edges have worn off completely. If this is real leather, it’s is black underneath and dyed and the dye is what is wearing off. This is only light use, in and out of my pocket and sat on a desk. I had a red one with my iPhone 8 and I can tell you the leather feel and quality definitely changed. I could clean the red one and it last 2 years still looking good. Apple please fix this, I too am most likely going with a Bullstrap case .

Apple needs to issue a customer service credit to everyone who bought these faulty garbage quality leather cases and reinstate the old quality leather not cheap painted leather remnants which is exactly what this case is.

this is my saddle brown case. I basically experimented with this case as I have purchased the nomad rugged case.

i used a little sand paper and coconut oil along with leather conditioner. Will shall see how it looks in a few days once it settles.

It's wearing a bit, but nothing like the older, saddle brown version. It almost appears to be more dirty than have a patina. It just doesn't have the softness, texture or wear the previous models did.

I finally ended up lightly sanding my case with fine grit sandpaper in order to get the coating off and expose the leather underneath. I then rubbed in a light coating of, believe it or not, beard balm and removed any excess balm with a rag. My case in now less than 2 weeks old and it’s starting to develop the patina that I wanted.

Not only is the feel different it’s complete garbage. There is no patina whatsoever. I’m not even sure it’s real leather. It just seems like a spray on coated painted brown saddle color that’s now faded out to a terrible damaged looking finish. Every other saddle case that I purchased for my iPhone 11/10 and previous ones had always worn to a beautiful rich looking aged finish. This one just after one month looks damaged and like a very cheap quality material build. Also edges are fraying, further signifying the low quality material/construction. Would be nice if Apple spent the money to go back to the quality of the previous saddle brown leather cases as we are spending quite a bit of money on their products.

With all due respect , Clearly the leather is not the same quality. I don’t think we need to know “how to age our case“ I’ve had four of them with my previous other phones and did absolutely nothing and it then aged beautifully. Here are a few pictures of my case it does not age beautifully it ages just like a piece of cheap painted leather garbage. And I take meticulous care of my items I put it in my pocket I take it out of my pocket that’s all that should ever need to be done.

That’s actually a good suggestion so I actually took it up with the Apple store. They said many complaints have been coming precisely with the same issue as a matter of fact the Store sales person confidentially informed me that he to experienced the same problem and is purchasing a different brand of case. Unfortunately he said they cannot accept a return of the case and it was manufactured differently not defective. Meaning this year they no longer use the high quality Tanned Coach style leather. They used a cheap hard leather and painted it with a cheap paint finish that rubs off after only a short period of time. This process is not a true “tanning process“ it’s just a “spray on tan“ and only gets worse over time it doesn’t get aged with a beautiful patina. Now for those of you that like the rubbed off paint look finish as “vintage“ I gather you would like this style. Personally I’d like to see them bring back the high-quality truly “tanned process” leather case. Here are some photos of the original high-quality case. No that’s a true patina aged Tanned saddle brown look! Please Bring it back

Could be you are correct. But it’s still no question that the case “looks nasty” as you mentioned (Personally I still think it’s a painted leather not a tanned aged) here’s my previous cases. They looked amazing after two years. I actually sold them on eBay for more than I paid for them. People paid up for the gorgeous aging process. Anytime a blemish would occur you could actually just rub it with your finger and it would look better than without the blemish. To reiterate, just the mere act of putting it in your pocket and removing it from your pocket was enough work for the aging process to take its beauty on the previous better quality versions

Either way thanks for the open minded chat. Hopefully Apple reads this stuff and acts on it. Too many people in this chat seem to agree with this version that’s on the market now being a much “different“ I call lower quality version

As you can see one looks like a nice aged leather patina (first 2 pics… Mind you that’s two years old! The other… just cheap painted garbage...only about 4 months of use on the NEW current case for the 12’s… Just shameful garbage. No aging, no patina, no rustic vintage look, just paint rubbing off revealing cheap surface underneath))

I’ve really been wondering this myself, from the iPhone 11 to the iPhone 12 leather case, you could feel the difference instantly.

I’ve been using the Blue on an iPhone 12 Pro Max, only had it on for a couple of months and with minimal wear, in and out of my pocket and on the desk.

OMG. garbage! No question Apple cheaped out. This is not fine saddle leather that ages w/time. This is a brown painted piece of garbage leather that fades&washes out at minimal use. Might as well describe it as “fine rich corinthian leather” Ricardo Montalban did well w/that! Please! Apple-bring back the original cases these are garbage! And don’t try and explain yourself … well we needed to revise because of the new iPhone 12… Well the design is more effective… Well the Materials we now use are more environmentally safe… Please! Who are you kidding…save it for the tree huggers & give me my Coach like soft, supple , rugged, real saddle leather case back. Just admit you screwed up and bring back the original leather quality cases!

Had to scratch it With the fine sanding paper as it was looking awful.( dirty on the edges with artificial look of the leather- no patina) Not the finest job but it looks more natural rustic now. Hopefully it will age nicely from now on