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The Truth About Latercase
Nov 1, 2025
Latercase - https://latercase.com ($10 off for next 24 hours) If you were an early adopter you will see the $10 refund in your inbox. I realize this is a long video, the aim was to cover everything surrounding the launch of Latercase. If you feel that something was not answered/missed please leave a comment below this post. Please watch the entire video before commenting there's a good chance your question is covered. FOLLOW ME IN THESE PLACES FOR UPDATES Twitter - http://twitter.com/unboxtherapy Facebook - http://facebook.com/unboxtherapy Instagram - http://instagram.com/unboxtherapy
View Video Transcript
0:00
My goodness, wow, what a development, what a turn of events. Who would think we're sitting here
0:05
talking about a simple, slim phone case. It's just turned into this really comprehensive thing
0:12
Some of you are aware, some of you aren't. If you don't care about this case talk whatsoever
0:16
feel free to move along. No hard feelings. But there's enough people that want a follow-up
0:23
that are looking for some more information about how this case came to be, how it relates to other
0:28
products that are on the market where it came from what is the origin story and so forth because
0:34
there's been i mean there's been some drama take place a lot of it unwarranted as i'll get to in
0:40
this particular video so i went on to twitter i felt that was the best way to do a follow-up video
0:46
at this point considering the fact that there there's just like this wide variety of questions
0:51
that people have based on a number of videos that came out where people were just essentially
0:57
assuming the worst and like this has got to be the most evil enterprise loose cut red-handed
1:04
that obviously not the intention there's a lot more to the story but people like to go make the
1:09
the hot videos because they could get maybe twice as many views as they would normally get and
1:15
fair play whatever do what you got to do so before i get into the questions because i did i went on
1:20
twitter and i asked people to ask me questions just a little bit about the case that's in front
1:25
of me right now. This is really the one. This is the important case to me because it exists for the
1:32
Pixel 4 XL, which is my device of choice. It doesn't have to be everybody's device of choice
1:37
Yes, I was absolutely aware of the existence of Aramid Kevlar thin fiber-based cases, but I had
1:47
been exposed to them through various brands that were busy making those particular products
1:53
including Evutec and yes of course Pitaka but what the thing that does that isn't really getting
2:01
covered in this story at least from the other angles that have come out is the fact that this
2:06
particular case in front of me wasn't available from either of those other brands that were
2:10
currently playing in that space and at the end of the original video that like minute and a half
2:17
fancy piece of content that we had a little bit of fun with that didn't absolutely did not cover
2:24
enough information based on the feedback people wanted so much more dialogue but at the end of
2:28
that video i said i couldn't find what i wanted so i went out and made it and this is where things
2:34
got squirrely in terms of interpretation people were saying how dare he claim that he went out
2:39
and made this thing when the concept has already been established so i understand the misconception
2:46
there that the assumption being, oh, he's claiming or taking credit for the concept
2:53
And that's my mistake for putting it in that framework. And I think in an effort to make the video clean or to the point or not boring, we avoided
3:05
some of the comprehensiveness around that and in a way fed the misinterpretation
3:10
When in reality, what I meant to say or the way that I was conceiving of that terminology was in relationship to this exact case
3:21
I can't find what I want in the market, so I went out and made it
3:25
Now, to just be clear on what it means to make something, no, I did not lay these fibers down
3:34
No, I did not personally manufacture the tool from which this was created
3:38
But also, I did not hop on Alibaba or AliExpress and order 1,000 pieces of this case
3:46
This case really did not exist. So step one, you have to create a tool for it
3:53
So there was a pre-existing industry around the idea of Aramid fibers, Kevlar fibers being turned into, well, various industrial products
4:03
But nothing existed specifically for this device. so the tool cost for one just to to be completely transparent the tool cost is around thirteen
4:13
thousand dollars per device that's being supported currently on later case so that's money out of my
4:19
pocket uh that is not back there yet that's an investment for anybody that wants to do the math
4:26
it's fairly significant and on top of that you have a minimum order as well for anybody that's
4:31
probably going to want to work with you the minimum order for us here is around a thousand
4:35
units. For a not very popular device like the Pixel 4 XL, it is significant and it's tough to
4:42
make up for. So the original concept for the I went out and made it part is relating to finding
4:51
a way to bring this Aramid technology into a case format available and accessible to a wider variety
4:59
of people than what was currently supported from the pre-existing manufacturers. Of course
5:05
other devices were launched at the same time, and that's where more of the problems occurred
5:09
and it's certainly where the criticism videos focused in on. And then that's where things
5:14
just got completely out of hand, because Pitaka, one of the companies who manufactures these types
5:21
of cases, went on Twitter and went absolutely bananas about being the innovator and the small
5:29
guy in the story and that I was the big bad YouTuber out to destroy them when in reality
5:36
I was trying to solve a personal problem. The funny part about this is that Pitaka is well known
5:43
You obviously, some of you know them. They've done some marketing. They showed up on my very channel and many others
5:51
But from what I can find, they actually don't appear to be the innovators in the space when
5:58
it comes to the first evidence I can find of this particular material being used in a phone case
6:05
application. In fact, when I referenced the Wayback Machine and also look at the founded dates and the
6:14
Whois data for Pataka versus Evutech, it seems, well, it appears to me, at least if you were to
6:21
compare these two companies that Evutech was creating aramid-based, Kevlar-based, weaved-looking, carbon-looking cases, very similar to this one, all the way back in 2013 with the company being
6:35
founded in 2012. You don't see an instance of that in Pataka's case until 2015. And you don't
6:43
get an actual look on Wayback Machine at a physical website where you can purchase that
6:50
particular product until I think 2015, October 1st of 2015. I didn't even want to go here
6:57
to be honest. I spoke privately, and I'm not going to go into detail about what the conversation was
7:03
because there was a confidentiality agreement, but I spoke privately with Pitaka, with the CEO
7:10
saying, this is ugly in public. This is immature. What's going on here? Yelling and screaming and
7:16
insults and this and that. That to me wasn't something that any customer or person following
7:23
the story would want to see. Realizing and recognizing that, man, I've been looking at
7:29
and knowing about Aramid cases or Kevlar cases or Carbon cases for way longer, for longer than
7:37
Pataka even existed before the domain was registered in 2015. But yet the guy on Twitter
7:42
James and the company in general have written blog posts and I mean real personal attacks naming names suggesting that they got the absolute only right on planet Earth
7:55
to be manufacturing, engineering, and manipulating this particular material in the format of a case
8:04
So they're out here saying, you've completely plagiarized, When in reality, a little bit of investigation seems to indicate that this idea predated them
8:15
Am I upset about it? Not really. I thought it was assumed
8:19
I thought when people saw this material, they would assume like other materials, plastic and so forth
8:25
that it had just been an option for cases for a very long period of time
8:29
which it has been, just not necessarily from Pitaka. So, for example, I've actually got, these are Evutech cases right here
8:37
And funny enough, well, anybody who watches the channel and pays attention to what I've done over the past few years probably knows I'm not a huge iPhone user
8:47
So my exposure, this is the craziest part, my exposure to these style of cases is way more in relationship to Evotech, a company that's actually cool with this
9:01
We had conversations with Evotech prior to going after this project. Evutech was actually going to be a manufacturer for later case, but they had a really high threshold for minimum orders to work together
9:16
Somewhere in the neighborhood of around 20,000 units, which you can do the math on that
9:20
That's a substantial investment across multiple SKUs that I wanted to support
9:28
They have done nothing to attempt to own this particular concept, recognizing that there's no patent associated with this
9:37
This is a material in the shape of a phone. Where and how you can innovate around this is relative to small incremental things
9:47
And that's another area where I made a mistake on entry video where I should have been more clear that this was mostly a refinement process to my personal taste
9:57
Now, there's some changes that took place from this original Evutech inspiration
10:01
I realized these minimum orders and the tool costs and how I wasn't going to be able to support everything out of the gate, but that I could possibly work towards it
10:10
And that so long as I was creating tools and and having access to manufacturing, I was also going to go ahead and modify all the various versions that I would need to launch
10:21
People are probably saying, why wouldn't you just launch the pixel version if that's all you needed
10:26
because as a company that's not exactly feasible you can support devices like this so long as you
10:32
can build up a customer base around the more popular devices to increase exposure and sales
10:38
around the popular devices to almost subsidize the endeavor around the wider variety the wider
10:44
selection this is part of the problem that the other business models have had and the reason
10:49
they haven't been able to go out and support a wider variety of SKUs so then it was like okay
10:55
we're gonna have to carry some other devices to meet the minimum orders
10:59
and to have an actual feasible business. So when you start looking, for example
11:04
at the Galaxy model that we ended up putting out, compared to some of the other products
11:11
that were on the market at the time, like this one, there were some changes that actually took place
11:16
on our eventual take with later case of the best version of what an Aramid case could be
11:23
So the initial thing that bugged me about previous Aramid case exposure that I had was the removal process
11:32
They can be hard to get off, and this varies depending on the range and the device that it's made for
11:39
There was also some issues that I discovered as far as ramps and cutouts for some of the camera stuff
11:46
And, of course, when it comes to removal, one of the ways to increase the ease of removal was to advance the cutout
11:53
In order to give you more torsional flex so that you have this extra confidence when you go to remove the case, it just pops off beautifully
12:02
Now, as part of the long-term plan, this is another question that popped up on Twitter, part of the long-term plan for the company
12:10
there's an idea to actually have multiple versions of each model with different aspects, possibly different patterns, possibly even different materials
12:19
to have the potential to change your case very easily or to go caseless if you choose to
12:24
The same thing exists with other models as well. If we're looking at the popular iPhone model, obviously, this is against the Pataka version
12:34
Yes, they absolutely feel different, I should say. They feel different. And this is going to be something that you're going to find across the later case lineup as well
12:42
I, when I touch the case, I want to feel a carbon weave
12:46
I want to be able to feel the fabric that makes up the case as much as possible
12:51
Other people, on the other hand, may prefer the finish that exists over here
12:55
This is the Pataka case. It's a smoother, it definitely has slightly less texture to it, but it feels more uniform
13:02
So some people think that's a more finished feel. It's not what I wanted
13:06
So for me, to my taste, we come to this, where you get to enjoy the feeling of the weave
13:14
of the materials of the Kevlar instead of it feeling sort of more like a typical case
13:21
And if you get this in your hands at home, then possibly you're going to appreciate that as well
13:27
It's a constant reminder when it's in your pocket, this is not a plastic case
13:30
That's another thing that I've seen online. A lot of people are saying, why would I spend this kind of money on a phone case
13:38
Well, most of it has to do with the materials. So many of you pointed out, look, I can go on AliExpress and find a $2 carbon case
13:47
The vast majority of those $2 cases are meant to look like carbon, but they're actually plastic
13:53
And then they have sort of a print on top of them. Both of these cases, whether it's the later case or the Pitaka case, or the Evutec case
14:02
might as well bring that one over there as well, are using this material right here. That's a fabric. That's a weave. That's a synthetic weave
14:08
and of course it's been referenced as aramid it's been referenced as kevlar kevlar being a brand of
14:17
aramid fibers that's what i should call it this is it's fibers kevlar being the inventor as well
14:22
sort of like the kleenex of of tissues the material we're using in later case as far as my supplier
14:30
tells me is official dupont kevlar so it's the original stuff that that happens to be in there
14:39
and it looks something like this so there's a process that takes place to turn this into the
14:45
eventual case but as jack can pick up there it is definitely not plastic and it has incredible
14:51
attributes it's five times stronger than steel it is used in all kinds of industrial applications
14:59
including bulletproof vests. It's actually pretty amazing, but it's definitely not plastic
15:04
and it's definitely not $2 on Alibaba or AliExpress. I should say there are listings
15:11
for actual Aramid cases on AliExpress. But again, the real ones, if you do decide to do the actual work to track them down
15:22
they're still relatively expensive. And of course, I can't speak to any of those individual sellers
15:27
whether they'll back up your purchase, whether there's customer service, where the warehousing happens to be That was another area where I wanted to take some of the confusion out of purchasing these particular cases So there of course a premium associated with doing that
15:42
Now, speaking about cost, it's kind of weird because it was like these multiple criticisms being cast
15:49
There was the original criticism, which was it's expensive, plus it's a ripoff
15:56
But when it comes to cost and you're considering the differences, it's important to note that kataka themselves who aimed to build their very own business like
16:05
evotech they've got some expensive cases themselves in fact the newest one this one over here it's
16:11
called air case i believe it's retailing right now for 59 59 99 i believe whatever i mean feel
16:19
free to to charge as you please and and and uh if you if you find a fan base for it that's cool
16:25
But it was like this weird double criticism of it's a ripoff of Pitaka, but also AliExpress for $2
16:37
And it's like, wait, theirs is $60. So what are you saying about them then as well
16:42
It's a lot of factors that go into the final price, the cost of the unit that you purchase
16:47
Some people, it's just out of the price range. And I fully understand that
16:52
It's not the cheapest case in the world, absolutely. But this process, as I mentioned before, it's just a little bit more complicated
16:59
particularly when you're having to manufacture these tools for each individual SKU that you're going to support
17:06
So when you take the $13,000 and apply it, for example, across 500 units
17:11
before you're even talking about materials, before you're talking about shipping or any of the other operational costs
17:17
you're already at $26. dollars just tool cost divided by number of units you're capable of selling so you can understand
17:26
why it becomes difficult for any manufacturer to support the variety of SKUs that I'm looking and
17:32
hoping to be able to support because of the opportunity presented via unbox therapy so that's
17:39
how you get to the eventual price on the website which is obviously a premium sticker price as it
17:45
stands right now. But the goal is that if we can increase volume, get the word out, get the product
17:51
in more people's hands, and get people interacting with it and enjoying it, then we can possibly
17:57
drive those prices down as a consequence of the ability to bring up the volume. Next up is the
18:03
one thing, I mean, a lot of people want me to respond to this specifically, the takedown of the
18:09
video that was on Pataka's channel and the timing of that particular takedown. This is really simple
18:17
I talked about it on Twitter. Obviously, not a lot of people saw it. That video went down because
18:24
well, at the time it went down because of this case, absolutely, because of this project
18:29
but also because of the way that it was being utilized. So it was kind of being presented
18:35
as an ad or it had a promotional aspect to it where they were running it as the main video on
18:42
their channel page no one had talked to me about it asked me about it this actually happened
18:49
surprisingly frequently with companies that will sort of utilize your content recontextualize it
18:55
and present it as it as some kind of an endorsement even if you didn't necessarily intend it that way
19:02
Now, I'm generally not all that sensitive about this. It does kind of suck when it's misleading to end users. This has happened with a few brands who I'm not going to mention here. But generally speaking, well, first of all, it's hard to keep tabs on it. And generally speaking, I don't find it to be all that destructive
19:20
But in this particular case, I'm launching a case which could be perceived as similar as theirs, as has all come out, given the development that took place here
19:30
and that could present significant confusion in the marketplace even though I know and I've
19:36
explained how my particular product happens to be different and the fact that these style of cases
19:42
have been around for a long period of time dating back to at least 2013 from companies other than
19:50
Pitaka you still want to make sure that when you go to market you invest the kind of money into
19:55
whatever various refinements you want to do, that that confusion can't still exist at the point
20:01
at that exact point of launch. So that was the motivation to take that video down. Now
20:06
as far as privating the video on Unbox Therapy, that video just isn't really useful at that point
20:12
And since the original ad was simply a rip of a clip from a combination video loosely covering
20:20
a variety of gadgets. It wasn't a dedicated review or anything like that
20:25
That original video was lacking in usefulness to me. Like it's two-year-old video
20:32
It's not accumulating any new views and it has the potential to be ripped
20:37
and the motivation, the proof of motivation to rip content from it had already taken place
20:44
All right, now another thing that's come up on social media, another criticism, valid, criticism is valid
20:49
is around branding. So this is the box that the later case ships in
20:54
And I'm going to be honest with you, a lot of this comes back to the cost factor
20:58
I'm just going to reiterate real quick, every single tool, $13,000, $13,500
21:04
you've got to hit certain minimum quantities to go with that. So each case you're invested in substantially
21:11
you're trying to hit a cost that you think is feasible. And then you're also trying to give people a decent experience
21:19
but you're also a new company at the same time and you don't want to set yourself up for failure
21:25
either so i decided to take the minimalist approach we have a very minimal box there was a
21:31
cleaning cloth included this little tiny tab here that's a that's five cents 4.8 cents that's a
21:37
that's another thing you got to decide on you you then multiply that across how many units you need
21:42
it's a consideration i say go i say go for the tab so we ended up with this minimal experience
21:48
as you can tell. Now, a lot of people said, well, that just means you just ordered the thing off
21:54
AliExpress. Those who have been paying attention to this particular video, you know, this product
21:59
specifically, there's no format of it on AliExpress. But of course, any of the later case products
22:06
don't exist on AliExpress in the format that they're in here with the refinement that we put
22:11
into it, with the texture we put into it. And of course, with the easy removal, that was another
22:16
huge focus. But in retrospect, had this had some form of branding on it, people may have avoided
22:22
going down that path of thinking, which again, I have to take some blame for that for not putting
22:28
this comprehensive video out, though I was just worried there wouldn't be all that many people
22:32
interested in the making of it turns out there's plenty of people interested in the making of and
22:38
then that's what brings us here. So there's no branding, I went minimal, I thought people would
22:42
like the minimal aspect, but I got tons of feedback from people that said, we need to see a logo
22:47
We need to know this is the thing that you say it is. That's something I've got to think about now
22:51
That's something I've got to consider. There could be a logo here. People suggested a logo
22:56
on the inside of the case as well, possibly right there. Of course, having my eyes opened up to the
23:02
to just the vast variety of Aramid style cases that exist on the market, I can see it being
23:09
meaningful and I can see myself as a customer wanting that as well to know
23:13
which version I have in my hand so we're gonna have to look at that going forward
23:18
you can let me know in the comments of this video actually how important that is to you how much branding you like to see and where you like to see it Going forward with this project I think it going to be important to be more transparent about the process and to involve the audience more It one advantage that we can have
23:37
as a community that's interested in this particular product, assuming that you're one of those
23:42
individuals that is, where you can actually kind of have a hand in the eventual outcome because
23:48
there are it is a process and it does take time as far as creating another tool is concerned for
23:54
another skew that can take like three weeks and then refinement on the laser cutting to your
24:00
particular standard that can take more weeks and then the manufacturing and the shipping it all
24:06
it all takes time and I'm going to try to do a better job of documenting that entire process so
24:11
you have the confidence to know that I'm doing this my way and I'm not just drop shipping whatever
24:17
some wholesaler is listing on AliExpress, Alibaba, or anywhere else that that is possibly taking
24:25
place. For me, it's absolutely no dropshipping. It's a relationship with a manufacturer directly
24:31
with a factory directly. When I'm making a change to the case, it's happening on that level to the
24:37
actual individuals responsible for the machinery capable of creating this particular product
24:42
So all the revisions, everything that's happening is hands-on from that perspective
24:46
All right, so another big piece of this, as I've referenced multiple times through this video, is figuring out a way to create a model that can support many more devices so individuals that have less popular phones can also get to experience this really cool material and this particular fit and experience as a whole
25:09
so on the website from the very jump there was this voting mechanism built in to see what people
25:16
wanted to have made and and also to indicate to us what would be worth making and what would be
25:21
feasible to make without bleeding a bunch of money on the upfront costs as i referenced earlier in
25:27
this video and the one plus devices have prevailed so tooling up right now as we speak to support
25:35
various oneplus phones including the 7T 7T pro and 7 pro so keep an eye out for that but also keep
25:43
voting if your device is not supported like i said i'm trying i'm trying to make it happen because
25:49
that was the origin of my personal need was wanting this thing to exist i should also just
25:55
reference real quick at this point that this case is absolutely not for everyone my personal taste
26:02
is a case that's barely there. It's a case you hardly notice. It's a case that's easy to get off
26:08
And it's a case that's nice to touch and pull out of your pocket. That is what I want in a case
26:13
You'd be amazed how hard that actually is to find when you go across the variety of SKUs
26:18
of different devices that I use throughout the year. All right, that's the motivation
26:23
And it's the thing, it's the essence of what I want the company to be going forward
26:27
That no matter what your smartphone choice is, you at least have a cool, thin option for it
26:34
And the marketplace currently as it stands right now is not delivering that
26:38
So it's a big key functionality for us. So if you haven't voted yet, at least go to the site
26:44
Even if you're kind of unsure, even if you are just thinking about it
26:48
you're potentially in the market for a nice thin case, either for the device you have now
26:52
or the next one you're gonna purchase, head over to the voting section of latercase.com
26:59
put your vote in, Because it will absolutely influence which products exist in the future and which ones don't
27:06
All right, so let's talk about price. It's been a really sensitive aspect of this launch
27:12
Most of it, honestly, motivated by a lot of the factors that I referenced earlier
27:17
When it comes to tooling costs and the risk involved and all the rest of it
27:21
Now, obviously, Unbox Therapy, it's an incredible community. Same with Lou Later downstairs
27:26
There's so many of you guys out there that have been tremendously supportive
27:31
So I should say, first off, for anybody who's ordered one, who's tweeted me, who's enjoying the case as it stands right now
27:39
obviously appreciate the support, but also appreciate the support in general. Anybody who's watched all these years who's been here
27:46
So when it comes to the $45 price, I think it was mostly reactionary when you're looking at the costs and you're trying maybe to compensate
27:55
You're trying to essentially launch a brand, launch a business, and make it sustainable so you can keep doing it, so you can keep solving the problem that I suggested previously
28:05
But I also completely understand the apprehensiveness from end users to spend that kind of money on a case
28:12
So what I'm going to do temporarily just for today, the day that you are watching this video, if you're watching this video, the day that it's uploaded
28:22
what I'm going to do is drop the price on the case just to get it into more people's hands
28:29
I want people to touch this thing. I want people to interact with it
28:32
I truly think people will like it even though from the outside looking in
28:37
it's like it's a thin case. What's the big deal? I like my OtterBox or whatever else
28:42
I think if you pick one of these up, you're going to be addicted to it
28:46
You're going to want to interact with your phone with this case instead of any other case
28:51
maybe even better than interacting with your phone with no case at all that's kind of the intent so
28:57
we're going to take ten dollars off the price just for today it's going to go down to thirty five
29:03
dollars instead of forty five dollars if you ordered one of these cases already and you paid
29:09
the forty five dollars you're going to get refunded the ten extra dollars so you don't miss out either
29:15
because you've been one of the earliest supporters my intuition is telling me that if people get their
29:20
hands on this particular case, notice the refinements that I made to it, interact with
29:25
this texture, pop the case on and off. They're going to start to understand where the motivation
29:32
lived for me to support far more SKUs than what the market was already supporting when
29:38
it came to Kevlar-based cases, thin cases in general, and just bringing a cool material
29:46
to more smartphones, more options for more smartphones. That's the motivation. That's what we're aiming to do
29:52
So 10 bucks off for right now. You can click the link in the description. Give it a try
29:57
Let me know what you think because I don't want the improvement process to stop
30:03
I intend for this to be collaborative going forward. I care about what you're writing on Twitter
30:09
I'm paying attention. You may have noticed. I'm responding to people. it's coming from a general place of curiosity it's coming from a place of well i mean i've
30:20
been talking about products for years now and here i have the opportunity to be actually
30:25
intimately involved in one here i have the opportunity to make changes that you can
30:30
actually hold in your pocket i can i can take these refinements and bring them into the real
30:36
world and that's really exciting for me so let's do that going forward hopefully you get a chance
30:41
to get one of these at $35. I will say, depending on the SKU you're looking for
30:46
the quantities are limited. So go check it out for yourself. And I think I pretty much covered everything
30:51
I really don't know what else there is. I condensed all the various questions
30:55
that came in via social media and tried to include them in this particular video
30:59
If you still have a question, you can hit me up directly on social media
31:04
But that pretty much does it. That's the later case now and into the future
31:11
Thank you
#Computers & Electronics