Apple Quietly Unveils Hikawa Phone Grip & Stand
Apple on Thursday posted a surprise on its online store and it’s another limited edition thing. It’s the Hikawa Phone Grip & Stand, a $70 MagSage-compatible grip for iPhone.
The “Hikawa” refers to the product’s designer, the Los-Angeles-based Bailey Hikawa. What’s unique about the Hikawa Phone Grip & Stand is it’s built with accessibility top of mind, with Apple saying on the product’s page the Grip was designed with “direct input from individuals with disabilities affecting muscle strength, dexterity, and hand control.” The stand portion supports both landscape and portrait orientations, and the object itself is touted by Apple as “inspired by modern sculpture” as well as “an art object unto itself.” The company also notes the new accessory coincides with the 40th anniversary of Apple’s building of assistive technologies for people with disabilities.
“The grip was designed through an extensive interview process to support varied ways of holding iPhone while reducing the effort needed to keep it steady,” Hikawa said.
Apple is sending me one of the Hikawa Grip, but as of this writing, it hasn’t reached my doorstep just yet. At a high level, however, the accessory strikes me as highly reminiscent, at least conceptually, of PopSockets. In fact, it was this time last year I published an interview with PopSockets chief executive Jaiyu Lin, wherein she spoke with me about the company’s popularity and, coincidentally, a collaboration with Apple. In my story, I editorialized some by talking about the accessibility benefits of using a PopSocket with one’s iPhone; namely, it can assist with having better tactility in terms of grip and standing for those who, very much like yours truly, have lower muscle tone in their hands and/or have fine-motor disabilities. (It’s also reason to prefer a case.)
The Hikawa promises identical benefits, if stylistically and ergonomically distinct.
The advent of the Hikawa Phone Grip comes after Apple announced iPhone Pocket earlier this month, a similarly limited edition iPhone accessory. The product is sold out.
