Apple

The other part of the mail

Hey Human, Let's start with some good news: save for a few “Ships November” orders, we've officially shipped all Ghost Cases. When we kicked off the Ghost project, we set out to solve the most pervasive problem in clear cases: yellowing. Since launch, our zero-yellowing clear case has been the most successful product we’ve ever released. To say we were unprepared for the volume of orders would be an understatement. For many, we know the wait has been a true test of patience and we can’t thank you enough for bearing with us while we worked through this backlog. With the initial mountain of orders in our rearview, we’ve turned our attention to another unsolved problem in the clear case industry: scratching. The simple truth is that plastic is softer than most objects you come across in your everyday carry (keys, coins, even healthy fingernails). As a result, plastic will inevitably become scratched. Because the Ghost is made in part with transparent plastic, those scratches are more visible than they would be on something opaque, like our Grip Case. Most case companies solve this by hiding behind the veil of a UV-cured “anti-scratch coating”. In truth, because these coatings are still softer than common objects your phone case may come in contact with, the improvement to scratch resistance is only marginal. More importantly: these coatings also tend to yellow over time. Because of this - particularly the reality that they turn yellow - we ruled out these industry-standard coatings as a potential treatment for the Ghost Case. All of this is to say that, much like every clear case you’ve ever owned, your Ghost Case will get scratched. While scratching is an unavoidable aspect of clear cases, we have observed a peculiarly high incidence rate of units arriving with scratches already on the case. It goes without saying that this is unacceptable. As such, we've been investigating potential causes over the past couple of weeks. We've since completed that investigation and determined that the only way to truly cure scratching-related issues (whether arriving scratched or getting scratched shortly after unboxing) is by increasing the foundational scratch resistance of the case itself. Given the state of industry-standard coatings that turn yellow and our commitment to a zero-yellowing clear case, this is much easier said than done. We have a handful of novel solutions we’re currently exploring, ranging from more exotic resins to chemically inert, non-yellowing anti-scratch coatings that can be applied through some form of vapor deposition. Assuming that at least one of these solutions is viable in mass production, we expect to bring a more scratch resistant version of the Ghost to market by April. While this date is by no means a guarantee, making the Ghost more scratch resistant is the top priority for our engineering & materials teams. For those who have been affected by a case that didn’t meet expectations on scratch resistance: whether that’s because your case arrived scratched or got scratched remarkably fast after delivery, here’s our commitment: