Apple just reinvented iPod Socks as an iPhone fashion statement, and you won’t believe the price

Simultaneously celebrating 21 years of iPod Socks and, apparently, its own hubris, Apple just introduced iPhone Pocket – a wearable carry-sock for your iPhone.

This collaboration with Issey Miyake was, we’re told, inspired by the concept of “a piece of cloth”. The result of all that R&D? A crossbody sock. It’s as if someone raided a warehouse of iPod Socks, stretched them out and fashioned them up.

When Steve Jobs introduced the originals, he called them a “revolutionary new product for iPod… socks”. Clearly enjoying himself, he joked that case makers were making more money than Apple did on the iPod, and so Apple thought it’d offer something too. “And our design team came up with socks,” he said. You got six colours for $29 – about $50 in today’s money – and they were a warm expression of Apple’s playful side (and, as Jobs quipped, would “keep your iPod warm on cold days”).

Because this is Apple in 2025, you can’t expect similar pricing. This is high fashion, darling. Which means the short version of the iPhone Pocket will set you back $149.95/£139.95 and the long one costs an eye-watering $229.95/£219.95. Half a dozen of those and you’re spending more than on an iPhone 17.

Sock it to ’em

So what do you get for your money? Apple describes a “3D knotted construction” designed to fit your iPhone. Its ribbed, open structure expands to hold extra items, can be worn on your body or tied to a bag, and when stretched “subtly reveals its contents so you can peek at your iPhone display”.

Which feels like an open invitation to thieves. “Hello, I’m carrying an iPhone in this very expensive, brightly coloured knitted pocket. Please don’t immediately notice this incredibly recognisable product and steal it, along with the similarly very expensive iPhone nestled within.”

Still, if you’re keen, act fast. iPhone Pocket is a limited edition, available in select stores and countries from 14 November, as detailed by Apple’s press release. 

My concern is this again feels like Apple drifting further from “bicycle for the mind” and towards bling status symbols. Perhaps that approach appeals to the Hermès Apple Watch crowd, but it doesn’t appeal to me. Maybe I just don’t ‘get’ fashion; but iPhone Pocket also lacks the cheeky charm, silliness, warmth and humanity of iPod Socks, even if it comes in much the same colours. It comes across like the same idea, stripped of fun, and inflated to fashion-week absurdity.

Honestly, I’d rather have the socks.