Tested: Burton Goods iPhone 16 Heritage case – American leather at its finest with one flaw

Update: Burton Goods has now redesigned the Heritage case with a new 3/4 cutout, completely mitigating the issues I had with the original cutout. You’ll find more details here, and some additional images of the new cutout can be found below. 

Earlier this year Burton Goods made its worldwide debut with a range of absolutely gorgeous leather accessories for your Apple gear. Its leather M2 iPad Air and M4 iPad Pro covers were among the most popular we featured among readers, and now it’s time to go hands-on with the brand’s new Heritage Leather iPhone 16 Case as the latest entry to our venerable Tested with 9to5Toys series. 

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Burton Goods Heritage Leather iPhone 16 Case Review

The new Burton Goods Heritage Leather iPhone 16 Case is only available for iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max in three colors: Mahogany (the one on display in this review), Deep Amber, and Onyx Black. 

It carries a $79.95 MSRP, but you can use our exclusive 9TO520 code to knock 20% off your order landing at $63.96 shipped. 

The Heritage Leather iPhone Case for iPhone 16 Pro is crafted from premium American full-grain leather, featuring elegant stitching on the back that enhances its tactile appeal and visual charm. But we didn’t stop at aesthetics. The case is equipped with a hidden array of magnets, complementing MagSafe technology, providing an exceptionally strong hold when paired exclusively with our Burton Goods MagSafe wallets. It’s both impressively functional and reassuringly secure.

Features at a glance

• Designed to perfectly fit iPhone 16 Pro/Max
• Full-Grain leather
• Elegant and tactile stitching on back
• Save With The Heritage Bundle!
• MagSafe compatible
• Soft microfiber interior
• Leather ages beautifully with a rich patina
• Fully accessible ports and cameras 

9to5Toys’ Take

This year Burton Goods unleashed some brand new designs from what we had seen under its previous Pad & Quill moniker. The wallet-style folio is making a return from iPhone 15, but the leather Heritage iPhone 16 we are zeroing-in on today is a fresh new take on its artisan-forward leather craft. 

It features the same sumptuous leather treatment we have come to know from the brand and, as anyone who has read my reviews on cases will know, I am once again totally here for it. 

This is a full wrap leather treatment if it wasn’t already obvious – there are no plastic sides or anything. But you will find a a hard black plastic bezel lip surrounding the camera array around back – I’d prefer it was wrapped in leather too, but it’s not overly offensive to my eyes either – that matches the buttons covering the Action button, volume switches, and home button. A nice hit of gunmetal steel or brass might take this case over the top and lean on the classic artisan vibes a touch more, but I do like the way it looks as is, and all of that stuff would more than certainly drive the price up significantly. 

Update: Here’s some images of the new Camera Control cutout:

Burton, like just about all case makers this year, leather or otherwise, as opted for a cutout for the new Camera Control button as opposed to the more high-tech conductive covers we have seen from Apple, Spigen, and a small handful of others. I’m not mad at this choice, although I might have preferred a cutout closer to what we saw on the Nomad Traditional Leather case for a couple reasons; I happen to like the look of Nomad’s more and it makes the Camera Control button easier to get at. 

This in fact is really the only worthwhile complaint I have with the Burton leather Heritage iPhone 16 case – it makes getting at the Camera Control button a little too cumbersome for me. It works, and you definitely can click and swipe and slide just fine, but you do have to dig your finger in the cutout a little bit too much for my liking. If you plan on using the Camera Control button a lot, you had better seriously love the look of this case or it’s likely not the one for you. 

One thing that will immediately standout in terms of the design, and likely be among the most (immediately obvious) divisive elements of the case here is the visible stitching along the back. I love the beautifully imperfect stitching Burton implements on its gear, but this is clearly a design choice hinged on the fact that it makes a classic leather MagSafe wallet that is made to rest on top of the stitching…and also one that might turn some folks off. 

Some just want a clean artisan leather cover, and unless they are only going to buy the MagSafe wallet too and only pull it off during charging, they are going to have to love the stitching for its aesthetic contribution to the case. I happen to like it, but I get the feeling the stitching detail here might not be ideal for a good chunk of potential customers. 

I personally love the look of this case, it’s really just that Camera Control cutout stopping me from fully recommending this to anyone that likes the aesthetics here. However, if you too love the look it from the imagery available online, and don’t plan on digging your finger into the cutout all that often, I recon you won’t be disappointed. I happen to think the case looks great without the new MagSafe wallets attached, but the whole thing might look even better with them. 

Buy the Burton Goods Heritage Leather iPhone 16 Pro Case

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