2026 test16 productsGadgets & Tech
Which Phone Case Brand Wins?
We compared 16 phone case options head to head. Mous came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Winner
Mous
Price shown in test: $85
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Budget pick
Ridge and ESR
Price shown in test: $40
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Weight | Button Force | Side Impact Test | Corner Impact Test | Screen Buffer | Removal Force | Mag Safe Holding | Country Of Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1FNT Case$7 | 37.51 g | baseline without case: side 9 oz / volume 10 oz; with FNT case: side 13 oz / volume 15 oz | 13th place (out of 16) in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | 18 in: quite a bit of damage but screen cover did not break; 24 in: still not enough damage to fail; second corner-drop series (18/24/30 in): performed better than no case at 18 and 24 in with some corner screen damage, but could not prevent catastrophic damage (broken glass, broken phone) at 30 in; finished last (16th of 16) in the final corner-impact ranking | 0 mm, no measurable raised-bezel gap, worst of all 16 brands tested | 14.5 lb, second best (highest) of all 16 brands tested | 5 lb pull-off / 6 lb shear (not marketed as MagSafe compatible) | China |
| 2Mkeke$10 | 32.95 g | side 17 oz / volume 20 oz, made buttons very stiff and unresponsive | 11th place in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | performed better than the FNT case at 24 and 30 in but still showed damage and separating glass; finished 9th place in the final corner-impact ranking | 0.93 mm, good protection from a raised bezel | 11 lb | 0.7 lb pull-off / 0.6 lb shear, not designed for MagSafe | China |
| 3Ornato$10 | 32.53 g | side 12 oz / volume 13 oz, the best (most responsive) result up to that point in testing | last place, 16th of 16, in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | struggled badly: a crack appeared by 24 in and there was a lot more damage than the Mkeke by 30 in; finished 13th place in the final corner-impact ranking | 0.66 mm | 16.1 lb, the best (highest) of all 16 brands tested | 0.6 lb pull-off / 0.7 lb shear, not designed for MagSafe | China |
| 4Supfine$10 | 41.95 g, heaviest of the brands tested up to that point | side 11 oz / volume 16 oz | 8th place in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | in the corner-impact section this brand's first result is mislabeled 'Spigen' in the transcript (see note); finished 10th place ('the budget sub fine finished just ahead of the Apple case') in the final corner-impact ranking | 0.18 mm, worse than average | 8.8 lb, the weakest (lowest) grip of any brand tested up to that point | 6.6 lb pull-off / 7.7 lb shear, described as by far the most holding strength; winner of the overall MagSafe holding-strength ranking at an average of 7.2 lb | China |
| 5Spigen$15 | 39.8 g, second heaviest of the brands tested up to that point | side 11 oz / volume 15 oz | 10th place in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | 24 in: small crack in the plastic; 30 in: a lot of damage to the phone; finished 12th place in the final corner-impact ranking | 0.25 mm, a pretty small buffer | 11.2 lb | 5.6 lb pull-off / 8.5 lb shear, second place in the overall MagSafe holding-strength ranking behind Supfine | China |
| 6Tocol$15 | 37.91 g | side 9 oz / volume 12 oz, the best result up to that point, credited to cutouts around the side button | 14th place, transcribed as 'Toku', in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | 24 in: some breakage and screen beginning to separate; 30 in: phone 'completely totaled' and 'folded like a lawn chair'; finished 14th place, transcribed as 'Toko', in the final corner-impact ranking | 0.39 mm | 8.2 lb, the weakest grip of any brand tested up to that point | 4.5 lb pull-off / 6.1 lb shear, transcribed as 'Toku' in this section | China |
| 7Miracase$21 | 55.22 g, by far the heaviest of the brands tested up to that point | side 16 oz / volume 18 oz | 12th place, transcribed as 'mirror case', in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | performed relatively well: 24 in caused only a small fracture, 30 in showed the glass beginning to separate but with much less damage than the Tocol; finished 3rd place ('the very affordable mirror case') in the final corner-impact ranking; in an extended 36-in test alongside the top two finishers (ESR and Rokform), this brand 'ran out of luck' with a lot of damage to the phone | 0.36 mm | 10.1 lb, a little below average | 2.2 lb pull-off / 3.4 lb shear, below average, transcribed as 'Myro case' in this section | China |
| 8ESR$27 | 78.62 g, by far the heaviest of the brands tested up to that point | side 18 oz / volume 15 oz | 1st place, winner of the side/angle-iron drop ranking ('the winner of this category is the very affordable ESR case with a very small amount of damage to the phone') | no visible damage at 24 or 30 in; tied for 1st place with Rokform in the final corner-impact ranking; in an extended test taken to 36 in (glass separated slightly) and 42 in (still looked surprisingly good with only a small amount of damage), ESR beat the Rokform head-to-head at 42 in ('definitely a win for the ESR') | 1.52 mm, the best (largest) buffer of all 16 brands tested | 6.6 lb, the weakest grip of any brand tested up to that point | 4.9 lb pull-off / 6.3 lb shear, better than average | China |
| 9Ridge$40 | 47.44 g | side 9 oz / volume 12 oz, performed the same as the Tocol, described as pretty good | 5th place in the side/angle-iron drop ranking, described as a really good finish considering the case's compact size | some visible damage from 24 in; the 30 in drop caused notable damage ('entered the auto body shop territory'); finished 7th place, transcribed as 'Reds', in the final corner-impact ranking | 0.12 mm, tied for the worst buffer of all 16 brands tested (with Apple) | 11.8 lb, a little better than average | 5.5 lb pull-off / 7.4 lb shear, better than the ESR; third place in the overall MagSafe holding-strength ranking | China |
| 10Apple$50 | 34.68 g, pretty light | side 11 oz / volume 12 oz, trails the Tocol and Ridge | 15th place in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | struggled from the side impact test onward; the phone inside was badly damaged by the 30 in drop; finished 11th place in the final corner-impact ranking | 0.12 mm, tied for the worst buffer of all 16 brands tested (with Ridge) | 8 lb, described as not offering a good grip on the phone | 3.7 lb pull-off / 4.9 lb shear, trails the Ridge | China |
| 11OtterBox$50 | 54.44 g | side 27 oz / volume 20 oz, the most unresponsive buttons of any of the 16 brands tested | 9th place in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | struggled at 24 in and especially at 30 in ('that damage is not going to buff out'); finished 15th place in the final corner-impact ranking | 1.19 mm, third best buffer of all 16 brands tested | 4.3 lb, the weakest (lowest) grip of any of the 16 brands tested | 2.8 lb pull-off / 3.4 lb shear, gave up sooner than most other brands | China |
| 12Caudabe$52 | 55.53 g | side 10 oz / volume 12 oz, performed even better than most of the other brands | 7th place in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | performed better than average, described as 'not the worst and not the best either', with some damage to the phone corner; finished 6th place in the final corner-impact ranking | 0.43 mm, less protection than average | 9.9 lb, a lot better than the OtterBox | 3.2 lb pull-off / 4.9 lb shear, better than the OtterBox | China |
| 13Dbrand$55 | 50.67 g | side 14 oz / volume 16 oz, less responsive than the Caudabe | 2nd place in the side/angle-iron drop ranking, described as performing incredibly well with a very small dent | 24 in: little bit of screen separation but phone still in very good shape; 30 in: phone became cracked; finished 5th place in the final corner-impact ranking | 0.73 mm, more protection than average | 11.6 lb, a little above average | 4.1 lb pull-off / 4.6 lb shear, about average | Canada |
| 14Torras$67 | 54 g | side 10 oz / volume 11 oz, described as very responsive | 6th place in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | performed better than average through 24 in with minor screen separation, but 'did not adequately disperse the impact force' at 30 in, leaving the corner badly damaged; finished 8th place, transcribed as 'Taurus', in the final corner-impact ranking | 0.35 mm, not much of a protective buffer | 12.9 lb, better than the Dbrand | 2.6 lb pull-off (let go early) / 6.2 lb shear (good) | China |
| 15Rokform$70 | 86.36 g, by far the heaviest of all 16 brands tested | side 12 oz / volume 18 oz | 3rd place in the side/angle-iron drop ranking | no visible damage at 24 or 30 in, tied for 1st place with ESR in the final corner-impact ranking; in the extended test, still in pretty good shape at 36 in but lost the head-to-head against ESR at 42 in with more damage | just over 1 mm, described as very good protection | 11.7 lb, trails the Torras | 6 lb pull-off / 5.9 lb shear, better than most other brands | China |
| 16Mous$85 | 47.64 g | side 10 oz / volume 10 oz, only 1 oz of total added force, the most responsive buttons of all 16 brands tested | 4th place in the side/angle-iron drop ranking, two small dents with no broken glass | screen separated just a little at 24 in with no visible phone damage; small dent to the corner at 30 in but performed much better than most other cases; finished 4th place in the final corner-impact ranking | 1.22 mm, second best buffer of all 16 brands tested, behind the ESR | 13.4 lb, third place overall in the removal-force ranking | 3.9 lb pull-off / 4.4 lb shear, gave up pretty early | China |
How it was tested
- button actuation force for side and volume buttons (oz of force)
- side impact drop test using an angle-iron tester (drops from 18 and 24 in, ranked 1st to 16th)
- corner impact drop test using a second tester (drops from 18, 24, 30 in, and an extended 36/42 in test for the top finishers, ranked 1st to 16th)
- screen-to-ground protective buffer / gap when dropped face-down (measured in mm)
- force required to remove the case from the phone (lb)
- MagSafe holding strength, pull-off and shear force (lb)
- wireless charging compatibility
“For phone that costs well over $1,000, I'm definitely going with the Mouse.”