On November 15, 2025, Apple’s most talked‑about new “accessory” isn’t a phone, a watch, or a pair of earbuds. It’s a piece of knitwear.
The iPhone Pocket — a 3D‑knitted sling created with legendary Japanese fashion house Issey Miyake — has gone from curiosity to instant sell‑out, sparked fashion think‑pieces, and triggered an online debate about whether a $230 fabric pouch for your phone is genius, ridiculous, or both. [1]
Here’s everything you need to know today, 15 November 2025, about Apple’s iPhone Pocket: what it is, how it works, why it’s sold out, and what major outlets from The New York Times to tech blogs and Indian business media are saying about it.
What Is the Apple iPhone Pocket?
At its core, the iPhone Pocket is a 3D‑knitted fabric pouch that can hold any iPhone model along with small essentials like AirPods, keys, or a lipstick. It’s designed to function as an extra, wearable pocket rather than a traditional protective case. [2]
From Apple’s own description and partner coverage, a few design ideas stand out:
- “Piece of cloth” concept – The design draws on Issey Miyake’s long‑running A‑POC (“A Piece of Cloth”) philosophy, which treats clothing as a continuous textile that can be shaped, pleated and reimagined. [3]
- Ribbed, pleated knit – The pouch uses a ribbed, open structure reminiscent of Miyake’s famous Pleats Pleasepieces, allowing the fabric to stretch to accommodate an iPhone and other “pocketable” items while springing back into shape. [4]
- Peek‑through textile – When the knit is stretched, you can see the outline of what’s inside and even glimpse your phone’s display; when relaxed, it fully encloses the contents. [5]
- Multiple ways to wear – It can be worn cross‑body, on the wrist, tied to a bag like a charm, or simply carried in hand. [6]
The Times of India neatly sums it up as a Japanese‑crafted textile pocket that expands to hold your phone and subtly reveals it when stretched — essentially a soft, wearable “holster” for a device that has already become most people’s wallet, camera and ID. [7]
Price, Sizes, Colors and Release Date
Apple and Issey Miyake have kept the lineup intentionally simple but carefully styled.
Strap lengths and pricing
- Short strap iPhone Pocket
- Price: $149.95 (US)
- Use: Worn on the wrist or tied onto another bag. [8]
- Long strap iPhone Pocket
- Price: $229.95 (US)
- Use: Worn cross‑body or on the shoulder like a mini sling bag. [9]
For Indian readers, local outlets estimate that the short strap equates to roughly ₹12,900 and the long strap around ₹20,300, though Apple hasn’t yet announced official Indian pricing or a launch date. [10]
Color palette
The iPhone Pocket leans hard into fashion‑forward color blocking:
- Short strap: Eight shades – lemon, mandarin, purple, pink, peacock, sapphire, cinnamon, black.
- Long strap: Three shades – sapphire, cinnamon, black. [11]
Vogue notes that the bright mandarin and peacock tones are deliberately tuned to echo Apple’s latest iPhone 17 finishes (such as “Cosmic Orange”), making mix‑and‑match styling part of the product story. [12]
Release date and markets
- Launch date: Friday, November 14, 2025
- Regions: Initially available via Apple’s online store and select physical stores in France, Greater China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the US. [13]
Flagship locations include Apple SoHo in New York, Ginza in Tokyo, Regent Street in London, and Piazza Liberty in Milan — underlining how much this is being treated like a fashion drop rather than a standard tech accessory. [14]
From Steve Jobs’s Turtleneck to a Wearable iPhone
The iPhone Pocket isn’t a random collaboration. It taps into a decades‑long relationship between Apple and Issey Miyake.
- Steve Jobs was famously devoted to Miyake’s minimalist black turtlenecks, which became inseparable from Apple’s early keynote culture. [15]
- The New York Times’s style coverage and T Magazine’s Instagram posts frame Miyake’s work around “freedom and effortlessness”, suggesting that the new iPhone pocket is another expression of that ethos in textile form rather than a gadget in its own right. [16]
- This is only Apple’s second major partnership with a fashion house after the Apple Watch Hermès collaboration from 2015, making it a rare moment where the company explicitly crosses into high fashion. [17]
Miyake’s A‑POC research program, which treats garments as continuous, engineered textiles, shows up directly in the Pocket’s single‑piece knit and its ability to morph between a flat strip and a roomy pouch. Apple’s design team has described the project as a “meeting of minds” rather than a simple licensing deal, with engineers and textile designers iterating together on prototypes like a kind of cross‑disciplinary jam session. [18]
Launch Day: Long Lines and Instant Sell‑Outs
If you were hoping to casually add the iPhone Pocket to your cart today, you’re probably out of luck.
Crowds at Apple SoHo and beyond
Reports from both Bloomberg and Indian business daily Mint describe queues outside Apple’s SoHo store in New York early Friday morning, with shoppers treating the launch more like a hyped sneaker or streetwear drop than a phone accessory. [19]
Within minutes, stock at SoHo and online disappeared:
- Bloomberg notes that the pouch — priced “up to $230” — attracted fashion fans as much as Apple devotees, drawn by the Issey Miyake connection and the product’s limited status. [20]
- Mint reports that both in‑store and online inventory vanished quickly, with scarcity itself becoming a driver of desire; one New York designer quoted in the piece admits that rumors of sell‑outs made them want it more. [21]
Selling out online
Tech site MacRumors confirms that by the time orders opened on Apple’s online store, the iPhone Pocket was already sold out in the United States, with size and color combinations disappearing rapidly in other launch markets. [22]
Given Apple’s own description of the Pocket as a “special‑edition” accessory, MacRumors cautions that it’s unclear whether additional stock will ever be produced once current inventory is gone — adding another layer of urgency for collectors and fashion‑minded Apple fans. [23]
Why the Internet Is Calling It a “$230 Sock”
Almost as soon as Apple’s press release went live, the memes followed.
“Would you buy a $230 sock?”
The Washington Post’s Style section framed the launch with a knowingly provocative question: “The iPhone Pocket is coming. Would you buy a $230 sock?” The article highlights how the accessory is both an evolution of the phone lanyard trend and a lightning rod for criticism about tech‑adjacent luxury pricing. [24]
“Cut‑up sock” and other punchlines
Other outlets and social feeds piled on:
- A Yahoo News headline circulating on social media describes the product as an iPhone carrying case drawing mixed reviews, with one widely repeated line likening it to paying $230 “for a cut‑up sock.” [25]
- Australian coverage in The Nightly and similar sites has emphasized both the price and the fact that Australia wasn’t included in the initial launch list, calling the Pocket an expensive “sock” that locals can’t even buy directly yet. [26]
- MacRumors commenters have nicknamed it the “iSock” and joked that the price should be closer to £9.99 than $229.95, encapsulating a common feeling that Apple fans will buy anything with a logo on it. [27]
Even India’s NDTV Profit, in its Weekly Tech Wrap published this morning, groups the iPhone Pocket alongside far more traditional gadget news (like the OnePlus 15 launch and Red Dead Redemption coming to mobile), labeling Apple’s knit sling the “bizarre” standout of the week. [28]
Fashion vs Function: Is iPhone Pocket Actually Useful?
The core debate around the iPhone Pocket is simple: Is this a genuinely useful way to carry your phone, or just a high‑fashion flex?
The case for practicality
Supporters — including some style writers and long‑time phone‑lanyard users — argue that:
- Many people already wear their phones on straps or slings; the iPhone Pocket simply upgrades that habit with better materials and design. [29]
- The ability to carry phone + small essentials in one soft pouch makes sense for quick errands, festivals, travel and situations where you don’t want a full bag. [30]
- The knit structure leaves the phone loosely accessible; you can stretch the pouch to peek at notifications without fully removing your device. [31]
Times of India and other explainers stress that Apple positions the Pocket as an extra pocket, not a replacement for a hard case — something you’d wear over an already‑cased phone rather than instead of one. [32]
The case for “pure aesthetic”
Critics, including commentators in the Washington Post discussion and various tech blogs, counter that:
- Keeping the phone fully enclosed defeats the purpose of carrying it at chest height; you still have to pull it out to use it, unlike open‑front slings or clear pouches. [33]
- The price pushes it firmly into luxury fashion territory, especially when basic phone cross‑body straps start at a tiny fraction of the cost. [34]
- For many, it feels like an in‑joke about Apple’s ability to monetize anything — a point echoed in MacRumors comments and Yahoo’s “cut‑up sock” framing. [35]
In short, whether the iPhone Pocket is a clever everyday tool or a glorified status symbol depends largely on how comfortable you are treating your phone as part of your outfit, not just a gadget.
What the New York Times and Fashion Media Are Saying
While tech outlets fixate on the price, fashion media is more interested in what the Pocket says about how we wear technology.
- T: The New York Times Style Magazine has repeatedly highlighted Miyake’s emphasis on ease, lightness and freedom of movement, suggesting that the 3D‑knitted phone pocket is less about storage and more about preserving that effortless feeling even when you’re carrying a device. [36]
- Vogue calls the collaboration a “moment of connecting the dots” between Apple and Miyake’s shared love of deceptively simple design, pointing to details like Japanese candy‑inspired packaging and a color palette that accidentally aligned with unreleased iPhone finishes. [37]
- Hypebeast frames the Pocket as a rectangular, pleated holder for daily essentials, leaning into the “Pleats Please” lineage and the idea that the accessory is essentially a tiny, wearable piece of runway‑level textile engineering. [38]
Together, these perspectives position the iPhone Pocket less as a joke and more as an experiment: what happens when a tech company treats a phone accessory like a limited‑edition fashion object, complete with design lore and a built‑in collector culture?
Where to Buy the iPhone Pocket Now (15 November 2025)
As of today:
- US online store – Reported as sold out across all configurations. [39]
- Other launch countries – Some sizes and colors remain sporadically available in markets like France, Japan and the UK, but inventory is shrinking quickly and varies by region. [40]
- Physical Apple Stores – The flagship list (SoHo, Ginza, Orchard Road, Regent Street, etc.) still appears in Apple’s official availability note, but both Bloomberg and Mint describe stock at these locations as limited, with queues clearing shelves fast. [41]
Apple describes the iPhone Pocket as a special‑edition release, and MacRumors points out that the company has not promised restocks. That means the secondary market — resale platforms and fashion consignment sites — is likely to be the next battleground once initial buyers decide whether to keep or flip theirs. [42]
What the iPhone Pocket Signals About the Future of Phone Fashion
Beyond the memes and the price tags, the iPhone Pocket is part of a broader shift:
- Phones have evolved from bricks in our pockets to visible, curated accessories — something you match to your shoes, bag, or, now, your knit sling. [43]
- Designers and tech brands are experimenting with wearable storage that treats devices as jewelry or apparel rather than tools to be hidden away.
- By partnering with a house like Issey Miyake, Apple is signaling that it sees value in textile innovation and fashion‑grade collaborations, not just metal and glass. [44]
Whether you think the iPhone Pocket is peak innovation or peak absurdity, it’s hard to argue with its impact: in just a few days, it has generated wait lines outside Apple Stores, sold out online, inspired high‑fashion editorials, and become a shorthand for the sometimes‑blurry line between technology and luxury.
Quick FAQ: Apple iPhone Pocket (Updated 15 November 2025)
What is the iPhone Pocket?
A limited‑edition 3D‑knitted pouch made in collaboration with Issey Miyake, designed to hold any iPhone plus small essentials and be worn like a sling or wristlet. [45]
How much does it cost?
- Short strap: $149.95 (US)
- Long strap: $229.95 (US) [46]
When did it launch?
On 14 November 2025 in select countries (US, UK, France, Italy, Japan, Greater China, Singapore, South Korea). [47]
Which colors are available?
Short strap in eight colors (lemon, mandarin, purple, pink, peacock, sapphire, cinnamon, black); long strap in three (sapphire, cinnamon, black). [48]
Is the iPhone Pocket sold out?
In the US online store, yes. Other markets have limited remaining stock, and Apple is calling it a special‑edition release with no guaranteed restock. [49]
Does it protect your phone like a case?
Not really. It’s a wearable pouch that you’d typically use along with a regular case, adding portability and style rather than impact protection. [50]
Who is it for?
Fashion fans, Miyake enthusiasts, Apple collectors, and anyone who already loves wearing their phone on a strap — plus people who want to own a small, limited piece of Apple‑meets‑Issey‑Miyake design history.
References
1. www.apple.com, 2. www.apple.com, 3. www.apple.com, 4. www.apple.com, 5. www.apple.com, 6. www.apple.com, 7. timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 8. www.apple.com, 9. www.apple.com, 10. timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 11. www.apple.com, 12. www.vogue.com, 13. www.apple.com, 14. www.apple.com, 15. www.vogue.com, 16. www.instagram.com, 17. www.vogue.com, 18. www.vogue.com, 19. www.bloomberg.com, 20. www.bloomberg.com, 21. www.livemint.com, 22. www.macrumors.com, 23. www.apple.com, 24. www.washingtonpost.com, 25. www.yahoo.com, 26. thenightly.com.au, 27. www.macrumors.com, 28. www.ndtvprofit.com, 29. www.washingtonpost.com, 30. timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 31. www.apple.com, 32. timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 33. www.washingtonpost.com, 34. www.washingtonpost.com, 35. www.macrumors.com, 36. www.instagram.com, 37. www.vogue.com, 38. hypebeast.com, 39. www.macrumors.com, 40. www.macrumors.com, 41. www.apple.com, 42. www.apple.com, 43. www.vogue.com, 44. www.vogue.com, 45. www.apple.com, 46. www.apple.com, 47. www.apple.com, 48. www.apple.com, 49. www.macrumors.com, 50. timesofindia.indiatimes.com
