What kind of mobile phone cases are a good one meets consumers demand?
First of all, the most basic and important function of a mobile phone case is to protect phone, such as protecting phone from being broken when it is dropped. Secondly, the mobile phone case should also have the functions of anti-scratch and an elegant appearance, so we believe that a mobile phone case with a beautiful appearance while satisfying the protection of the mobile phone is a perfect phone case recognized by the public, the idea of sourcing phone cases is mainly from the material and appearance.
The quality of the phone case material mainly determines the quality of the phone case, but the quality of the phone case varies greatly due to the different materials applied. We believe that purchaser must first figure out the material of the phone case, and then choose the style.
Phone case material
As the functions of mobile phones are becoming more and more powerful, people are becoming more and more inseparable from mobile phones, and the prices of mobile phones are getting higher these years. The mobile phone protective cases that have developed along with mobile phones are also becoming more and more sophisticated and more high-end. The material of the phone case is also very different, from the earliest plastic (PC) to the liquid silicone that is getting hot applied by Apple nowadays.
First of all, let’s talk about the current mainstream mobile phone case materials.
Silicone
Liquid silicone phone case is getting very hot by iPhone cases officially published by Apple. Nowadays, in the Chinese market, whether it is an iPhone or an Android phone, the liquid silicone phone cases are very popular, prices are not expensive, the sourcing prices are generally 10-30 yuan (USD1.5-USD4.5). In the meantime, the so-called liquid phone cases of less-than-usd$1 on the market are imitations, they are actually made by solid silicone.
Material characteristics of liquid silicone phone case:
Pros:
- Smooth feel. It has a very skin-friendly texture, soft, comfortable and elastic touch feel.
- Generally, liquid silicone made of the same material as the baby pacifier is used, which is environmentally friendly and healthy, and is not easy to deform.
- It has an excellent shock proof and anti-scratch effect. The liquid silicone mobile phone case has good elasticity and good shock-proof features, and it is not easy to break when the mobile phone falls off.
- Liquid silicone material is Dirty resistance , slow aging and long service life.
Cons
The feel of liquid silicone depends half on the material and half on the coating. But the coating will be polished after all, usually six months to one year. After the coating is polished, the feel will change drastically, and you can’t make up for the coating unless you buy a new one. There is another problem with liquid silicone, that is, it is easy to break when disassembled. Finally, the market for liquid silicone is chaotic, cheap and low-priced products are flooded with fakes, you will easily be set up.
Glass + Metal
Take the iPhone as an example. Metal phone cases are generally made as a full body protection, that is, the entire phone is wrapped by the phone protective case, and there is no need to film the phone screen. The metal material is often used for protection mobile phone frame, materials is usually applied by aluminum alloy. The front is usually tempered glass (or the latest high-alumina silica glass which has better transmittance), the back side is usually acrylic or tempered glass. The advantage is that the phone is fully protected. Tempered glass has good light transmission, which is not only protecting your mobile phone, but also shows your mobile phone’s original color and appearance. The metal frame can be made to match the color of the mobile phone, so that the appearance looks almost the same as the mobile phone’s original color. the sourcing price is between 20-40 yuan in the Chinese market
Pros
The metal frame is tough which has better ability of shock-proof. According to statistics, 90% of mobile phones are broken when fall off because the frame touches the ground. The metal frame has high resistance to deformation and fracture, so it has ideal protection performance. The gloss is very good, the colors are diverse, and the texture is also good. The advantages of glass material are strong light transmission, abrasion resistant and anti-scratch, strong transparency, non-toxic, harmless and tasteless.
Cons
Can’t be ultra-thin. However, metal mobile phone cases are thick and heavier than other materials and poor in portability, and it may cause some interference to mobile phone signal.
TPU (Thermoplastic polyurethanes): tough but too easy to stain
In the mobile phone accessories field of early period, TPU material was so popular applied almost all brands of mobile phone cases at that time, and its coverage was unprecedented. At that time, the mobile phone cases were soft, wrapping the mobile phone from the back to the frames, many users like this kind of mobile phone case, but consumers who have used this kind of mobile phone case have encountered a problem, that is, because of the poor sealing, after a period of time, there is too much dirt inside the phone case. .
Many people don’t know the difference between silicone and TPU, and even some sellers don’t know it. They say that the soft ones are silicone. Here let’s explain to you.
From the hand feel, TPU is generally harder hand feel than that of silicone, and the elasticity is better, while the elasticity of silicone is slightly worse. From the outside, TPU can be made very transparent, but silicone ones are not. The most transparent is very hazy, like thick fog.
However, the disadvantage of TPU is that it is easy to deform and get yellow. After three or four months of use, if you happen to buy a light-colored product such as transparent white, it will easily turn yellow. If the material is not good, the surface may become foggy or sticky.
Pros
1: Soft and elastic
2: All-round protection, elastic and anti-drop
Cons
1: Dust is not easy to clean
2: Most recycled materials are unsanitary
The TPU material mobile phone case is slowly fading out of our sight, but there are also a few manufacturers on the market that insist on listing the TPU material mobile phone case. This material has good shock absorption, it is soft and not easy to deform, the practicality is relatively strong. But because waste recycled products account for the majority, the future of TPU is relatively pessimistic.
Leather phone case
Good quality leather phone cases are usually made of pigskin and cowhide. Generally, the outer layer of leather is used for skinning and the inner layer is made of PU material to reduce the cost and achieve the visual effect of the leather.
Leather is also a popular material in phone case. Compared with ordinary silicone cases, business professionals who work hard in the workplace prefer to use decent mobile phone cases. Unlike young people who admire individuality, holding a mobile phone with a slightly single-color appearance for them is out of taste.
Pros:
Business series, good leather feel and style, which is actually the same as the silicone case, except that the outer silicone layer is replaced with leather, which feels good. The leather is delicate and high-end.
Cons:
Not resistant to high temperature, not easy to maintain – either knows how to maintain, or accept the traces of non-maintenance. In fact, some people do like the natural wear and tear of leather
Other: wood, bamboo, shockproof armor (Shockproof Waterproof dirt-proof) phone case
Shockproof armor phone case is another kind of phone case for special purpose, it generally features functions such as shockproof, waterproof and dirt-proof, this kind of phone cases are usually very heavy with worse hand feel.
Wood, bamboo materials for phone case are niche market. The material of wood will deform due to moisture, it is afraid of being bent so that your mobile phone will not be easily take off. The second is that the size of whole wood case is generally not so accurate, so it is unable to fit well on your phone.
Wooden mobile phone cases are relatively durable. Although the wood will cause scratches for a long time, it has less impact on the scratches than metal or plastic cases, and for some cases are made of bamboo, the scars have created a sense of vicissitudes.
Customized phone case
Usually the back side of the phone case can be customized by pictures consumer specified, consumers can choose the pictures they like.
How to find a reliable and high-quality mobile phone case supplier in the Chinese market?
According to some information, China produces more than 90% of the world’s mobile phone case accessories, so if you want to source phone case, the first station should be China.
Check our related posts for sourcing mobile phone accessories:
4 Mobile Phone Accessories Wholesale Markets Sourcing in Shenzhen Huaqiang North
Sourcing Knockoff Airpods in Shenzhen Huaqiangbei – Ultimate Guide
Sourcing in Shenzhen SEG Electronics Market – Ultimate Guide
Offline Market VS Alibaba.com
In China, the vast majority of mobile phone case manufacturers are from the Pearl River Delta, such as Shenzhen and Dongguan in Guangdong Province. If you are in Shenzhen, you can visit the SEG Communication Market in Huaqiangbei or Longsheng Mobile Phone Accessories City, there are countless and diverse mobile phone case merchants. Anyway, due to the reasons of Covid-19, you might not be able to visit the offline market, so the online B2B platform Alibaba.com will be a good choice. Search for keywords “phone case“ on alibaba.com you may get countless search results related to mobile phone cases. The price is very cheap, and you may direct place orders on this website. However, many suppliers on the alibaba.com platform are not manufacturers, and their delivery time is usually slow because they will purchase goods from other sources after they get orders and then ship them out after they receive parcels from their suppliers. The quality is also uneven, you need to identify the quality by your professional knowledge.
1688.com
The other largest B2B platform of Chinese e-commerce is 1688.com, which is also operated by Alibaba Group. This is a domestic B2B platform with only Chinese language. Many suppliers on alibaba.com take products from 1688.com and sell on Alibaba.com. Many Shopee sellers from Taiwan also purchase products from 1688.com directly, suppliers from 1688.com will ship parcels directly to their customer. So if you want to get more ideas about the product you are going to source, you may also try on 1688.com. However, 1688.com is only available in Chinese interface. International customers will be requested to use the chrome browser and translate the interface into English, you will also need to type Chinese when you search your products on this platform (use translater to translate your product keyword into Chinese). Another advantage of 1688.com is that you can chat online with suppliers instantly(You need to register an aliwangwang account which is a chatting app for Taobao.com and 1688.com).
Tips sourcing on 1688.com
There are also many trading companies on 1688.com, they are not real manufacturers. To find a manufacturer requires certain skills. Let’s give some tips:
- There is a filter bar above the search results, you can choose “In-depth factory inspection”at the right side of the filter bar, so that the products in the search results are mostly from manufacturers or suppliers that have been verified by the platform. These results or products are better and the price is usually more affordable.
2. Judging by some marks, some marks will be displayed at the bottom of the product picture. For example, 12 years” means that this supplier has been available on the 1688.com for at least 12 years, naturally, the longer a company is available on a platform, the more reliable the supplier it is.
3. The transaction information will be displayed below each product in the product result page, whether you search by keywords or an image search. Products with a large transaction volume tend to be powerful suppliers, and they are generally more affordable，and it should be the source manufacturer, you may then click on the product to check its detail page, see if it is the product you are looking for;
4. You may search for products by pictures, download the product pictures you get on other websites, and then use the picture search function on 1688.com by uploading product pictures, it is quite good function and easy to use. Of course, there are many similar search results, you will need to judge the quality of the supplier through the above tips.
5. All products on the platform are priced in Chinese currency, please pay attention to convert into the local currency you need
Final words
Mobile phone cases are a popular category of electronic products. Most Chinese suppliers are from the Pearl River Delta region. There are many styles and materials of mobile phone cases with huge kinds of mobile phone cases. At present, the mainstream is liquid silicone case, metal cases. In particular, the silicone phone case has an outstanding hand feel, which is loved by many female consumers, the price is relatively reasonable. As for the procurement of mobile phone cases, due to the material, feel, and workmanship, it is hard to directly judge quality through online platform. If possible, it will be better to experience it in offline market or you may take some samples. If you plan to visit in China, we recommend you to make a trip to SEG communication market in Shenzhen Huaqiangbei business street, you would most probably find the right product you need. If you need any kind of help, we can also be your support or assistant in China. The7 Sourcing is a professional China sourcing agent in the mobile phone accessories industry, we can help you find products that suit your needs and bring them in a reasonable price.
