We talked about Peak Design on occasion, mostly when doing round-ups of our favorite products during the holiday season. Today, we’re talking about the innovative bag maker for another reason – mobile phone accessories! Peak Design introduced a new Kickstarter campaign today that brings in a case, magnetic connector system, and a bunch of sweet mounts and products that work with it. All of it looks awesome.
Peak Design, for those not familiar, is mostly known as a bag company who found early success by making camera bags with all sorts of crazy design ideas. They’ve since branched into various other bag areas and make a bunch of camera accessories too, but this is the first big mobile line-up.
Mobile by Peak Design is the official name and it starts with a supported phone case that PD made, along with an adapter that is for those interested who don’t have a supported phone for the case. As of today, they are only making the case for iPhone 11, iPhone 12, and Galaxy S20 devices. That could change, but this is where the start is. Again, if you don’t own one of those, you can buy Universal Adapter, which attaches to your phone via adhesive and can then work with all of the other products.
Once you’ve decided which product you need to start, you get to choose from all of the sweet stuff that completes the line. There is a mobile tripod that attaches to the mount mechanism via magnets, a wallet accessory that doubles as a phone stand, car mount that can enable charging, two different bike mounts, wall magnet mounts, a wireless charging stand with adjustable positioning, a motorcycle mount, and a kit that lets you attach to tripods, GoPro mounts, etc.
Some of the devices attach via magnet only, while others lock in place (like the bike mounts), plus all of the products were thoughtfully designed and often include more than a single use.
To back this project, which is scheduled to deliver in May 2021, you can start with the magnetic adapter option for $16 or the case option for $32. From there, you can add-on accessories during checkout.
I’ve switched to magnet mounts in my vehicles and love them. I’d buy the tripod mount from these guys, that looks interesting.
Sounds like Moto mods to me.
Apple’s magsafe magnets are just a knockoff.
As a photographer, I’m very familiar with Peak Design camera bags. They’re GREAT and often quote innovative. They crowd source their product launches but haven’t backed out of anything yet as far as I remember.
OhSnap implemented this magnet deal, think couple of years now. I like the OhSnap system over this. I’m hoping OhSnap comes out with more accessories but they are a lot smaller than PD.
Have to admit. I like the magsafe stuff… How is it just now happening though
The concept really isn’t that new. Motorola was doing similar stuff a few years ago. But you know how it goes, right? Once Apple does something, people pay attention and it becomes mainstream.
Motorola Mods were a good idea, but were half baked and Motorola isn’t a top Android seller so they never caught on, yes.
Battery Pack attachments? Giant 5G antenna??
Apple is going to implement it in well designed ways.
Totally agree.
The difference is profit. If apple sells 40 million iPhones 12’s, accessory makers are going to try and cash in. What’s the difference in potential profits vs Motorola’s sales numbers?
We don’t try to cash in. We do. If you eliminated iPhone accessory sales, my company wouldn’t survive. You ask what the difference in potential profit of iPhone vs Motorola? I don’t have exact numbers for that…but anything is always more than nothing.
I don’t really understand why another company hasn’t come up with an accessory ecosystem for Android yet. I hope this does well and possibly lights a fire under other companies.
It’s not that accessory companies aren’t interested in doing this. The biggest stumbling block is the fragmentation of the Android ecosystem. There are so many different phones. Tooling the machines that make the accessories for each phone would be a nightmare…and simply not very cost effective. The other side has to do with volume. Android owners buy far fewer accessories for their devices in general. It’s actually not even remotely close. Manufacturers are driven by consumer buying behaviors. So…until Android users change their buy behaviors, they are far less likely to get as many cool accessories. This company may be an exception…so, yes, let’s hope they succeed.
Where do you see the numbers for Android phone accessory sales vs iPhone accessory sales? I’ve heard people say that, but I’ve never actually seen any numbers backing up those claims. I, for one, purchase a lot of accessories, which people have noticed and purchased for themselves. I also know quite a few iPhone owners that buy a case and that’s it. That’s only my personal experience which I know does not cover the entire market, so I’d appreciate it if you could link to manufacturers or vendors showing sales comparisons.
I would not consider Android fragmented. I would consider it choice. If you want an iPhone, you will have the same iPhone everyone else has (outside of color and size). I think this company is taking a good approach. Make cases for the popular phones at first and a universal adapter. If these accessories sale quite a bit, they might extend the lineup of cases. There are companies that make cases for a variety of phones. If all they had to do was to make those compatible with these (or another type) of accessories, then you would have an ecosystem.
So…I work for an accessory manufacturer in the wireless industry. I see the NPD data all of the time. Gives you a unique prospective into what’s going on. To your antidotal claim about how many cases iPhone owners buy, the average is 4. That’s the average! Android owners are far less likely to even own a case at all. It’s kind of crazy.
Then why do I see so many iPhone users without a case?
Imagine a world that doesn’t revolve around you…where YOUR experiences are not the same as everyone else.
In case you haven’t figured it out, iPhone owners averaging owning 4 cases means that some own more than that…and some don’t own one at all. But the actual data shows that over 85% of iPhone owners use a case. For Android, that number has hovered around 65%. Of all smartphone owners, both iPhone and Android, about 70% of non-case users are Android.
But what do I know? I’m just a guy who studies consumer buying habits and works for a major cell phone accessories company, which happens to specialize in cases.
I agree with you bro. Companies out there are just too lazy to create accessories for popular Android phones. It’s just easier for those clowns to focus on one brand with Apple and keep it moving.
If that wallet was compatible with my oneplus 7t I’d buy np questions asked lol
Yep…You nailed it. It’s just because we’re so lazy. We really don’t want to sell more products and make more money. Makes sense.
Apple currently sells 7 different iPhones. Compare that to the hundreds of Android models that are currently available for sale, and it’s not hard to see why “those clowns”(accessories manufacturers) focus so much on that one brand. Especially when that one brand is bringing in 45% of overall smartphone sales in the US. My company makes cases for the most popular Android phones on the market, but those sales numbers don’t come remotely close to our iPhone case sales.
Agreed 1000x.
I loved the Otterbox + PopSocket combo bases but they only support the S20 line in addition to iPhones.
I loved my Pitaka Aramid case on my Note 8 but they haven’t done much to build up an accessory ecosystem
Moto Mods were cool in theory but a disaster in reality
I want a SLIM case that has built-in magnets that works with a magnetic wireless charger and also does not interfere with normal wireless charging. And, ideally, supports an easy detachable magnetic power bank that is at least 4,000 mAh as well.
Amazing
Your comment gets them wet.