MagSafe Compatibility: If you insist on using MagSafe accessories or any newer-gen device equipped with Qi-enabled charging, keep in mind that a wallet case might get in the way of your wireless experience.

Get it? They’re practically the same thing (I'm reaching, I know)! Why keep them separate when I can use a phone wallet case that both safeguards my device and carries a few cards? Need I really be up against the world with a chunky bifold that’ll bulge out my pant's pocket, and then stuff a six-inch gizmo in there too? And if I keep a wallet, I'm just going to need an AirTag compatible one to keep me from losing it, anyway. It was a level-headed decision: an iPhone is a daily essential you use with hands, cards are also daily essentials you use with hands. And while I always skipped a generation in between, I did not miss the beat at getting an iPhone case for each and every model-an iPhone wallet case, to be exact. I'm just an Apple loyalist, what can I say. Since then-and not that I’m bragging-every phone I’ve owned has been an iPhone, all the way onto the newfangled, all-attitude 14 Pro.

It was an iPhone 5c that checked the “budget' and “handy” boxes for a freshly-minted high-schooler.

Phone card pocket