It’s a strange phenomenon. There is no official trace of the iPhone 7 — the famous Apple line is that the company “does not comment on rumours and speculation”, even though its September 7 event is almost certainly to launch a brand new phone. But, even with no concrete evidence that the new iPhone will look a certain way, or be a certain shape, you can already buy a bunch of different iPhone 7 cases.
Cygnett’s website says it all — “OUT NOW: brand new iPhone 7 cases!”. A variety of different cases for two different, familiar phone sizes — the iPhone 7, the iPhone 7 Plus — are already on sale from the company that started out as a small Melbourne outfit in 2003 and that has now grown to cover the world. Screen protectors, folio flip covers, slim translucent cases in different finishes — you can put down your cash and have one shipped to your door right now.
In fact, it’s a trend that has been going for the last few iPhone launches. As far as a few months out from D-day and H-hour, you’ve been able to punch “iPhone (X) case” into Google and come away with a pretty fair idea of what the next Apple smartphone will look like. Some companies are briefed ahead of time as to what the phone will look like, plenty of others make educated and uneducated guesses. But, from what we’ve seen, Cygnett’s cases are pretty much right on the money.
Would you buy a case for a phone that you haven’t even seen yet, let alone learned all the features of? Or, y’know, without learning the price of it? Whether or not that’s a rational thing to do — whether or not buying a new phone in the first place is rational, even — the fact that you can buy a case for an as-yet nonexistent phone is pretty interesting. [Cygnett]