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The Great iPhone X Slim Phone Case Comparison & Shootout!
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May 30, 2025
Got a beautiful new Apple iPhone X? Then you definitely need to get a protective case for it, but which one? There are so many different companies making iPhone cases nowadays that it's hard to choose. Which is why tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ did all the hard work by rounding up cases from OtterBox, Incipio, Speck, YCGRE, Society6, Melkco and Cutebe to find out which is the best. So which one wins the great iPhone X case shootout? Watch and find out! You can also watch and marvel as we struggle to get the iPhone X out of some cases, checks them all to see if they work with Qi Charging, and finds that some companies actually have cases with negative bevel (a really bad idea). Learn more about the cases here: YCGRE: http://amzn.to/2hDf2ex OtterBox: http://amzn.to/2j44mpz Speck: http://amzn.to/2hJcwXQ Incipio: http://amzn.to/2hCfMk1 Society6: http://amzn.to/2hAx80q Melkco: http://amzn.to/2hK346s Cutebe: http://amzn.to/2zfy2L3
View Video Transcript
0:00
got a new iPhone 10 then you need a new
0:02
case let's look at some choices Dave
0:13
Taylor here and I'm looking at iPhone 10
0:15
cases now I put the word out to all the
0:18
different case manufacturers that we
0:20
were going to do this and they said cool
0:22
and I got a ridiculous number of cases
0:25
so in fact this is part one of my
0:28
multi-part video series best case for
0:31
your iPhone 10 so iPhone 10 now turns
0:36
out that cases are slightly different
0:38
because with the iPhone 10 and the
0:41
iPhone 8 you also have now what's called
0:43
Qi charging so I'm using a Qi charging
0:46
base from a company called phone
0:48
salesman and just to demonstrate what we
0:51
want is if we put the phone on it to
0:54
hear that beep that means that now the
0:56
phone is charging wirelessly through the
0:59
Qi charging system super cool honestly
1:02
very much one of my favorite features of
1:04
the iPhone 10 but I don't want a case
1:07
that gets in the way of that so one of
1:09
the things we'll be testing with all the
1:11
different cases is do they actually work
1:13
with the Qi charger so let's get started
1:16
I got a lot of cases to get through
1:18
first one is probably gets the award for
1:21
least glamorous packaging but that's ok
1:25
it's a pretty nice case this is the YC
1:30
gr e thin liquid silicone iPhone 10 case
1:35
now it's a really slippery surface which
1:39
actually is not a huge fan of but it's
1:42
interesting because then the interior
1:43
they have a microfiber cloth that
1:46
they've sort of glued to it so test
1:48
number one will my iPhone 10 actually
1:52
fit and having put a lot of cases on I
1:55
always slide the volume up down side
1:58
first and then push the other side in
2:01
and that's a very nice case the cutout
2:05
for the camera is perfect and it
2:08
definitely looks like it works will it
2:10
work with the Qi charging let's find out
2:13
it does very nice next important
2:19
criterion is does it have a bevel and
2:22
it's boy it's just barely above the
2:24
surface now I do have the OtterBox alpha
2:28
glass screen protector on my iPhone 10
2:30
so that is gonna make the screen just
2:33
there like a water millimeter taller I
2:36
don't know but I always want to have a
2:38
decent size bevel not so much that it
2:40
gets in the way of the feel of the phone
2:42
but enough that it protects the phone if
2:45
it drops screen down so this is the YC
2:49
gr e it is $15.99 on amazon.com and I
2:54
like it my only criterion are sorry my
2:57
only criticism is that actually it might
3:02
be a little slippery so I'm not sure
3:05
it's the best choice so let's hold that
3:07
thought and go to the next one
3:08
now test never do can I get my phone out
3:11
of the case without damaging my phone
3:14
the answer is ah we're getting there yes
3:20
success there is the case we're gonna
3:23
come back to that case in a minute
3:24
because it turns out there's something
3:25
very interesting about it but now next
3:28
up is otterbox and I love everything
3:30
OtterBox makes now to be fair they
3:32
actually are just a few miles from me in
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beautiful Fort Collins Colorado but they
3:37
just make really great stuff and you
3:39
know they started out with these big
3:40
honkin heavy cases and now they make a
3:43
lot of really nicely modest and sleek
3:45
case designs like this this is known as
3:49
the symmetry clear in Stardust I don't
3:53
know if you can see but it's not a
3:55
perfectly clear case it actually has
3:58
little sparkles on it making it a little
4:01
bit disco for me but my daughter thought
4:04
it was fantastic now this is interesting
4:06
because this is one of a number of cases
4:08
it's actually two different materials
4:10
bonded together so this part is a hard
4:14
plastic it's not really flexible or
4:16
anything but the sides are more of a
4:19
silicone so there are softer so it works
4:22
better so now it's
4:25
our phone in here and boy am I gonna
4:27
have a lot of fingerprints at the end of
4:28
this there we go so that fits in very
4:31
nicely it is in fact designed to work
4:34
with the alpha glass so that's good and
4:37
there is more of a bevel than on the
4:40
previous one which I like and I'm pretty
4:42
sure it'll work but let's find out
4:45
Qi charging works so lots to liked about
4:49
this and like I said it's sort of a
4:50
disco finish on here hard to convey in a
4:54
photo but it's a really nice cheery case
4:57
and it does give a little bit more bulk
5:00
to your iPhone 10 but it is drop
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protection certified and it is also on
5:07
the spending side so this particular
5:08
case will set you back thirty nine
5:10
ninety five at OtterBox comm all right
5:14
next one outlets that one actually came
5:18
off a little more easily
5:19
either it's getting easier or I'm just
5:21
getting better at this it's probably
5:23
getting easier so next up let's look at
5:26
this this is the speck presidio clear so
5:31
this is very similar to the OtterBox
5:34
except this one is truly clear well
5:36
alright it's so slightly opaque slightly
5:42
so more translucent than transparent but
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there's no shimmery disco thing going on
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and like the other one it's a hard
5:50
plastic and a soft rubbery on the side
5:52
and the interior is has it's kind of
5:57
hard to describe it has a texture and I
5:59
think the idea of that is that it
6:01
actually helps protect your phone so
6:03
let's slip the phone in
6:07
there we go and it is remarkably similar
6:12
to the OtterBox I'm pretty sure that
6:15
there's probably only a certain amount
6:17
of variation you can do in these sort of
6:19
cases but it's very similar very similar
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feel it's a very nice case and it has a
6:26
little more bevel so it's a raised up
6:28
just a little bit more than the OtterBox
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this is the most so far of everyone
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we've seen and does it do Qi charging
6:35
it's totally clear you would guess it
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would and it does very nice
6:41
so that's a good one and this is again
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like I said the 2 layer case this one
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speck has an 8 foot drop test so they
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have the best testing in the industry at
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least from what they publish and spec
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has been making cases since gosh since
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the very first iPhone I think they are
7:01
just a mainstay in the industry and my
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favorite of all cases right now is
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actually one of the other spec cases but
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we won't have time to get to that in
7:12
this review that'll be in one of the
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other reviews in this series assuming I
7:17
can get my phone out of this case so we
7:19
can proceed it's not gonna break it's
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not gonna break it's not gonna break I
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guess on the positive side this shows
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just how strong the cases are and how
7:30
they really protect your phone even when
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you don't want them to ok
7:36
that's the spec case now next up this is
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the incipio octane lux and this is a
7:44
translucent design so it's not
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transparent but it's not completely
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opaque and it has metallic bumpers this
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is pretty sweet
7:51
this also has the distinction of being
7:54
the most expensive case that I'm looking
7:57
at we'll get back to the price in a
7:59
second so here we have it and you can
8:01
see it's translucent again it's really
8:04
nice what's different about this is that
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unlike say the spec case where the sides
8:09
and the back surface look the same this
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one has a separate rubber bumper going
8:16
all the way around the side separate
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from the translucent saw
8:20
plastic so this is not a hard plastic
8:22
this is more of a soft plastic it's a
8:24
really nice design it's a really
8:26
attractive case comes in a bunch of
8:28
different colors let's see what else
8:29
gonna tell you this one they do a 5 foot
8:32
drop test on - I am not choosing to do
8:35
that because these phones are really
8:38
expensive and I can just imagine going
8:40
into the Apple store and saying I was
8:42
testing iPhone cases and my phone broke
8:45
they'd be like well that's a bummer dude
8:47
so let's see not a whole lot of bebel
8:51
going on here it's above the surface of
8:53
the screen but oh so tiny in amount the
8:57
sides all the buttons all the cutouts
8:59
all very nice it's a really nice design
9:02
and it has a very good feel so there's
9:05
not any of that slipperiness and the
9:07
side bumper actually gives you some
9:09
really good grip because there's some
9:11
grooves on it so this one's really nice
9:14
this is the incipio octane and does it
9:17
Qi it cheese fantastic so far all the
9:21
cases have done that so that's really
9:23
nice this possibly is my winner for best
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case out of this batch but let's see we
9:29
have to do the can I take my phone out
9:31
of the case test oh maybe I can do it
9:33
that way that worked pretty well and
9:36
let's see then we only have 2 cases left
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actually it's alright so we have this
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society6 case and I realize I'm missing
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a case I don't know how that happened
9:50
I'll have to pause and get back to it
9:52
but let's get to this one first
9:53
so society6 is one of these companies
9:56
where they work with a ton of artists
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and they have really really gorgeous
9:59
designs and really the graphics on their
10:02
cases are really cool but they're not
10:05
the best cases in the world
10:06
unfortunately so this one it's a hard
10:09
plastic and then there's a sort of
10:12
rubber interior sheet just to make it a
10:15
little bit more gentle for your phone
10:17
and it's just your basic cutouts for the
10:21
buttons and such and here's the problem
10:24
the problem is it has a negative bevel
10:27
because I have a screen protector on
10:29
here it is ever so slightly higher than
10:31
the edge of the
10:32
case which pretty much makes it one that
10:35
gets right out of the running for me
10:36
because when I look at a case I want it
10:39
to be something that's attractive I want
10:41
it to be something that maybe reflects
10:43
my personality or at least an edge of it
10:45
but I also want it to be something that
10:47
protects the phone more than if I didn't
10:49
have it in the case and man they just
10:52
needed one more millimeter of plastic to
10:54
be able to have this be higher and have
10:56
an actual bevel on it
10:58
sadly that's not how they designed it
11:00
now it does have a nice feel and it is
11:03
easily the slimmest of all the cases
11:05
here because obviously there's not much
11:08
in the case there's not much to it but
11:10
nonetheless the graphics they have there
11:13
are really cool so this is let's see
11:16
what do they call it it's the flexible
11:18
hard plastic with rubber insert and it
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is $35.99 at society6 com which reminds
11:26
me did I say how much the incipio was
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this one's $44.99 and this was in
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midnight blue comes in a bunch of colors
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sorry about that
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so this society6 Slim case is actually
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like I said $35.99 and this particular
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graphic I really like this graphic is
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called barricade by an artist called
11:46
Tracy Andrews now I'm gonna go and go
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and grab that other missing case so I'll
11:52
be right back
11:53
I'm back whew that was quick alright so
11:56
this is the Mel ko aqua silicone let's
12:01
pull it out now have a look and you're
12:03
thinking hmm that looks a lot like one
12:06
of the earlier cases we looked at
12:07
doesn't it and here's the thing that's
12:09
really weird they look super similar not
12:14
only do they look similar but even the
12:16
interiors look similar there's the most
12:18
subtle of differences in the cutout of
12:20
the camera so which ones which this is
12:23
the one this is that this is the Mel ko
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so so I like this case because I like
12:30
this case because there are as far as I
12:32
could tell the same darn case now before
12:34
we go further let's get the iPhone out
12:37
of the society6 case okay
12:41
I do not detect any significant damage
12:44
as of yet so my phone is surviving this
12:47
adventure so we will now put it into the
12:50
Mel Coe aqua silicone case and again it
12:55
has basically zero bevel I don't like
12:58
that I think they just needed to have it
13:01
be a little bit more raised not good but
13:04
otherwise it's a really neat case it's
13:07
the cutout is exactly the dimensions of
13:09
the camera where some of the other ones
13:11
we looked at like this one the cutout is
13:14
bigger I'm not sure that there's any pro
13:16
or con to that it's just different
13:18
styles this has all the same
13:20
characteristics of the YC GRE in terms
13:24
of it feeling it's a little slippery but
13:26
the phone does seem to be securely in
13:28
there however like I said no bevel
13:33
action kind of annoying so Oh does it
13:36
charge and the answer is yeah charges is
13:39
the same case we already tested it right
13:41
so here's the thing that's kind of
13:42
interesting about this is that we have
13:44
these two cases this will work okay we
13:49
have these two cases from two different
13:50
vendors they could indeed be from
13:53
literally the same assembly line who
13:55
knows but the difference here same case
13:59
essentially this one's $15.99 from YC
14:02
GRE the Mel Co is 25 bucks why the
14:07
difference there's a darn good question
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so if you're interested in the Mel Koh
14:11
then this is 25 bucks at Mel cocom but
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honestly if you really like this then
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there are other alternatives that are
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less expensive really interesting to
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have that happen and to find two cases
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that are so incredibly similar now that
14:28
leaves one case left and this one's
14:30
funny so this I'm going to take it out
14:32
of the case that it ships with a
14:35
waterproof case and they tell you you
14:37
can use that on vacation I say plastic
14:41
packaging not very exciting but it's a
14:44
transparent case with a nice rose design
14:46
it's actually a very attractive little
14:48
case it is as we've seen in other ones
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it's a hard plastic with a more rubbery
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or soft silicone plastic on the edges
14:57
and let's go ahead and slip our phone in
15:00
and there we go and here we have you
15:07
know the same thing no bevel in fact
15:09
really no bevel and no bueno guys but
15:13
will it charge of course yeah charges
15:17
they all charged but this is something
15:18
you want to know if you're gonna use
15:20
cheat charging at all so here's the
15:22
thing though is this case wins lowest
15:26
cost this q2b
15:28
bumper case turns out to be $8.99 at
15:32
amazon including shipping so if you're
15:35
looking for another case for your
15:37
evenings out and you're okay with it
15:39
having zero bevel so zero protection for
15:42
the front of your screen then it's a
15:44
nice alternative but that begs the
15:47
question which one's really the best of
15:50
all these cases now I can't answer that
15:52
for you and I do want to point out
15:55
really quickly this has one interesting
15:57
little feature that none of the other
15:59
more expensive cases have which is it
16:01
has these two holes here I don't know
16:03
what the purpose of them is other than
16:05
the fact that it doesn't actually line
16:07
up with anything on the phone at all so
16:09
maybe it's for a little hand strap
16:11
that's a kind of cool idea it would be
16:13
very subtle but there's there's space
16:15
there for you to be able to run a little
16:17
tiny string through it so neat idea so
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cute be bumper case now question is
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which one is actually the best of all
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these cases it is totally overwhelming
16:28
I'm overwhelmed I can only imagine you
16:31
sitting there watching this going good
16:32
Lord how many cases do you have and by
16:35
the way this is like one third of the
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cases that I have so crazy stuff but
16:41
pretty important I mean if you have at
16:43
$1000 a $1200 device you know an
16:47
investment of 20 30 40 even 50 bucks for
16:50
a really good protective case is a smart
16:53
idea so which one do I like well before
16:56
I'm going to tell you I'm gonna ask you
16:58
to click the subscribe button so we can
17:00
stay in touch thank you now of all of
17:03
these honestly I'm pretty sure
17:06
that I'm gonna go with the most
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expensive one how about that is the
17:10
incipio because I really really like the
17:14
feel of it I like the outer bumper I
17:17
like the grip eNOS of the outer bumper
17:19
and I like that it has one of the
17:21
biggest bevels of all of the different
17:23
cases I've looked at so this is the
17:26
incipio octane lux winner of round one
17:30
of Dave's iPhone case shootout and if
17:33
you want to learn more about it you can
17:35
check it out at incipio calm this is
17:37
Dave Taylor thanks for traveling with me
17:41
on this crazy iphone case adventure and
17:43
i'll catch you in my next video
17:48
[Music]