Most phone grips stick around because they work, not because they’re easy to live with. The classic PopSocket has spent over a decade as one of the most recognizable phone accessories around, but its accordion-style pop-up design has always carried a trade-off. That bump on the back catches on every tight pocket, and for a certain kind of user, that’s been reason enough to never bother.
The Low-Pro Grip is PopSockets’ answer to that, but it’s also something more personal than a product update. An ultra-thin grip was actually what the brand’s founder envisioned first, before the accordion design ever existed. He taught himself CAD and printed a flat 2.1mm-thick disk as his original prototype, but it never opened up. That failure became the PopSocket. More than a decade later, the thin version finally works.
Designer:
At 2.6mm thick when collapsed, it adds almost nothing to the back of an iPhone and stays below the threshold where most grips start catching on tight pockets. The Low-Pro snaps magnetically onto any MagSafe-compatible iPhone case, so it goes on and comes off without adhesive or any ceremony. The mechanism underneath has also been completely rethought, abandoning the multi-ring accordion of the original entirely.
Instead of the familiar two-step expansion, the Low-Pro uses a single piece of flexible polymer that collapses flat and opens with one motion. What feels different about this approach is the texture. Where competitors rely on interlocking rigid arms that can dig into your fingers during long sessions, the softer polymer makes the Low-Pro more comfortable to hold at any angle, something that only becomes obvious after extended use.
The stand function has been redesigned, too. Instead of a button acting as the kickstand, an outer metal ring attached by a hinge folds out at any angle to prop the phone in either portrait or landscape orientation. That’s a meaningful step up from grip designs where the stand only works reliably sideways, and it covers the full range of how people use their phones away from a charging dock.
The magnetic base is strong enough to hold the phone against metal surfaces like a fridge door for hands-free use, and MagSafe wireless charging still works through it, though at reduced speeds. Despite the polymer being tested to withstand 30 lbs of tensile force and cycled open and closed 100,000 times, the Low-Pro is designed to be the PopSocket you can forget is there.
The Low-Pro Grip is priced at $39.99 and is launching exclusively at Apple in six colors, expanding to Best Buy and Target on July 12, and to all other retailers on July 29, when the full lineup of 12 colors will be available. It’s compatible with any MagSafe-compatible iPhone case and works with all existing PopSockets mounts, so it fits into an existing MagSafe setup without needing anything else.
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