iPhone 4 bumpers. Sure, they look nice, but they don’t really protect your iPhone from damage and after the whole Antennagate, they’re cynically looked upon as bandaids for the antenna attenuation problem. Worse, at $29, they’re overpriced.
Well, say goodbye to bumpers comer the iPhone 5.
9to5Mac says that come the next iPhone announcement, Apple will discontinue the bumper, even if the next iPhone isn’t radically changed in design from its predecessor.
In other words, even if the iPhone 4S is released with the same form factor, Apple’s still killing bumpers off. They may be replaced by something similar, but say goodbye to the current models, either way.
I’m not really surprised. The bumpers have always seemed less like a case than an iPhone fashion accessory to me, a way to quickly tell two iPhones apart when they’re resting on the table. And after being linked with the Antennagate controversy, the Bumper line is synonymous with an iPhone’s poor reception. Bumpers are poisoned from a marketing perspective. No wonder Apple’s killing them off.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
24 responses to “Apple’s Killing Off iPhone 4 Bumpers In The Next Month [Report]”
They also allow dust and dirt to get inside, and rub agains the metal band, causing permanent scuff marks.Â
too bad I lost mine half a year ago…I’d like to still have it just to have on the iPhone the one day or another
They would have to be redesigned no matter whether the new iPhone is the one that’s similar to the iPhone 4 or whether it’s the radically new design that no one likes. This is meaningless.
I could care less about the antenna (non)issue. Bumpers however do two important things: increase the phone’s “grippiness” (keeping accidental
drops to a minimum and the phone from sliding all over a car seat or dash) and protecting
the glass from scratching when the phone is on a flat surface with any dust or
grit. Oh, and the black bumper makes the
phone a minimalist black slab which I prefer to the sliver metal band.
“That no one likes”? I love it. Don’t project your opinions on others Prof.
I love my bumper, over year now with just a Full Body Zagg that covers the entire phone including metal band and a bumper. It provides that naked iPhone feel but has lived through many falls on NYC sidewalks. Not a mark on my phone, just replaced the Zagg and people are impressed that the phone is still mint. RIP Bumper :(
I tried about 3 other cases before finally just going with the bumper. I actually love it and while $30 is a bit steep I was comfortable paying. Consider I was dropping $50 a pop for the other cases.Â
That stinks. I love the Bumper. Low profile, feels nice. The rubber edges keep it from sliding off slopes and have helped me Not drop my iPhone many, many times.
This sucks, I love my bumpers!!!
I like the bumpers, too, but oh well, no biggie. You know, they can be had for $9.99 these days in blowout sales. Maybe I’ll pick up a few before they disappear.
I LOVE my bumper!! It definitely works & protects my phone. I dropped it down a really long flight of stairs at a club once & it landed at the bouncers feet. When they saw that it was an iPhone 4, they thought it was ruined. It picked it up, dusted it off & it didn’t even have “1” scratch on it! It worked fine (NO bugs or glitches). That proved to me that the bumper was really useful & the iPhone 4’s design was really sturdy (too my “happy” surprise!).
So does every other case.
No other case I’ve used did that. It’s the hard plastic on the inside.
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