Apple to stop using leather in iPhone, Apple Watch and all new products

Company will instead use new material for cases and straps

Apple will stop using leather, it has announced.

It will offer no new products using materials taken from animals, it said. That includes iPhone cases and Watch bands, both of which make heavy use of leather.

Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, noted that leather is a popular material for accessories. But it has considerable environmental impact, she noted, especially at the scale that Apple uses it.

As such, it has committed to phasing out those materials. Instead, it will rely on new materials that have been especially developed.

For the Apple Watch’s sport loop, for instance, it has changed the material to use 82 per cent recycled yarn.

For the straps that are currently made out of leather, it will rely on a new seemingly custom developed material called “FineWoven”.

That will presumably also be used for the cases made for the new iPhone 15.

And Apple has developed new straps with Nike and Hermès. The latter collaboration has relied heavily on leather – but recently Apple has been rumoured to be selling off those products cheaply.

The new materials will help make the new Apple Watch Series 9 the first carbon neutral product the company has made.