Gift Ideas for the Apple Fan Who Has Everything
Apple reporter Bridget Carey shares some of her favorite accessories and gear that could make for great gifts — especially for iPhone and Apple fans who have everything.
We don’t talk enough about products that can make your iphone experience cooler because yeah, this is a tool, but we forget about the fun side of tech and how it can have pizza and sometimes it can even have a face every week. I am making this Apple video series and that means I come across a lot of Apple adjacent Tech gear right now. It’s December. You might be looking for gift ideas. So let’s do an episode highlighting a few of my favorite things. Nothing is sponsored here. It’s just products I think are fun and my list has things that are both on the cheap side of joy and the expensive side of joy. So it’ll get more wild as we go along. I’m Bridget Carey and this is one more thing. I’m loving these adorable Pokemon phone cases from skinny dip. Now, it can be hard to buy a phone case as a gift if you don’t know what model of phone someone has. But you know what, there are other ways to charm your friends. Everyone is singing about phone straps and this one is a little jiggly puff that is singing. It’s $21. It attaches to the skinny dip cases but almost every case maker right now is selling ways to wear your phone. If you want something larger, consider wearing your phone as a cross body strap on my last vacation. I got a lot of use out of these. This is a velvet caviar strap because I just wanted the phone always at my side to capture photos. They cost $30.40 dollars. But if you want something a little more luxurious, we got Bandelier straps, these go for over $100 and this particular one also has storage. So a little bam, bam, nothing concealed about this. Carry another charming idea, Apple Watch charms. The company is called with it and it makes something called band candy. You can get a smooth silicone band and charm set for $35 and there’s different kinds of charms. They just pop into the band holes. There are so many mag safe iphone accessories. Now, if you have a magsafe case, you don’t need to glue on a pop socket and have it be there for life anymore. And I know people who still do this, but just so you know, pop sockets that come with the sticky part, you can take the sticky part off and attach it to a magnetic adapter and we’re not being demure anymore. Now, we’re putting $55 storm trooper helmets on our phones and I put this on the list because it just makes me laugh. And in 2024 pop sockets are still going strong that they could sell one of these for $55 but more practical are muffed snap stands. Now, this tripod stand is great for travel. They just pop right on. They are a little bit of folding, a little bit of bendy and you could just put your phone anywhere. They start at $40. And there now are versions that can hold a few cards like a wallet. But my favorite are versions that have no pads inside them. So you can jot down notes with a pen. I kid you not. It’s actual paper and pen. It’s attached to my iphone. It’s the best invention of the year. You could just put normal paper or sticky notes on this and it might be the cure we need for brain rot. OK? Now we’ve entered the not so cheap chapters because we’re getting into charging your gear in creative ways because no one wants to deal with a mess of cords, especially when you’re traveling. Now, this is 12 South’s Butterfly se It’s a compact two in one charger so you can plug it in the wall, pop it open one side, gets the iphone and the other your watch, it comes in fun colors. It’s $100. Here’s the Hyper juice. She 22 and one magnetic charging stand. It takes care of the phone and the watch you just prop it up bedside at a hotel real light and easy. I saw it going for about $75. Now, if you also need air pods charged, Hyper makes a three in one. It costs $15 more, but it’s not heavy. So it won’t weigh down your luggage. And what are you using to plug all of these into the wall? Are you sick of having to always deal with a dozen different charging? Wallow bricks. Well, I want you to not be sick anymore. I want you happy. So here’s a charging buddy for your desk. This is the gravest star the 65. It’s a 65 watt Gan wall charger and this is so you can fast charge multiple devices at once. It has little eyes that light up. You just charge your Macbook charge the iphone. Never be sad again because all chargers should have baby Mac Warrior faces. Ok? What if your iphone case matched your luggage? Impossible you say? Oh, it’s possible case I now makes carry on suitcases. This is the bounce suitcase and it has bounce bumpers on the corners just like its signature iphone cases. You can customize it. Mine says hello, but you can choose other letters and or words inside there’s even a little pocket to tuck in an airtag tracker. Now it doesn’t have touch ID. It has a locking zipper. This luggage starts at $400. It’s like putting a drop proof iphone case on your whole life. But what do you get? The Apple fan who has everything and is not impressed with these trivial trinkets. There is one product I have come across this year that I consider the ultimate tech product of 2024. It has the most useful artificial intelligence that I’ve come across. It can be controlled by my Apple. Watch it syncs up with Siri but it has its own voice assistant named Rocky. It’s a robot that is more useful than any rumored robot. Apple is supposed to be giving us because it is a vacuum cleaner that does video calls. It’s the Robo Rock S eight max B ultra. It’s an actual home assistant that will humble any Apple fan. It answers to the wake words. Hello, Rocky. Hello, Rocky. I’m here. Start cleaning. Resuming the A I and the cameras on board can identify 73 different obstacles to avoid and you can use it as a security camera or pet cam and chat through the vacuum when you are away. It even takes photos of pets when it’s cleaning the house. Now, Apple is rumored to be working on some sort of home robot, but it seems to be more like a home pod speaker and screen that can swivel around. It’s good to be reminded that tech companies out there can use A I to actually make our lives better and more healthy, not just rewrite emails for us. If you’re willing to pay $1500. I mean, hey, it’s cheaper than a Vision pro. I hope you thought these products were fun. Happy holidays, happy gift hunting. And I’ll catch you next time.