| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellent long-term grip texture | Camera control cutout ruins side grip |
| Tight, secure fit around the iPhone | Stiff, misaligned buttons |
| Rigid frame helps initial impact protection | Subpar build quality for the price |
| Comfortable port cutout for daily use | No excuse for missing camera control coverage |
We’ve been fans of the Speck Presidio Grip series for years. It used to be one of those easy recommendations. It has good grip, solid protection, and no nonsense. But after testing 50 iPhone cases to find the best five, our enthusiasm has cooled a bit. Honestly, the newer versions of the Presidio 2 Grip feel like they’ve lost some of what made them special, and the camera control button decision is a big part of that.
How We Test
30+ drops per case | 6+ metrics recorded per impact | 100% independently tested
Our goal is to find out what cases are actually best for your iPhone. We don’t base our reviews on any of the marketing a company wants you to believe. We’re reviewers, not influencers.
Our case testing procedure for the iPhone 17’s:
- Buy the case ourselves
- Measure all the physical dimensions of the case:
- Weight
- Size
- Back rigidity
- Corner/Back Thickness
- Corner compression
- Rank the handling and access of the iPhone in the case
- Perform magnetic strength tests using a force meter
- Perform audio tests (if needed using a DB meter)
- Perform 30 corner, face and camera lump drop tests. This data is collected from the iPhone’s accelerometer and gyroscope. We’ve built custom drop rigs to ensure every drop almost identical. To gauge the iPhone’s protective abilities, we measure:
- Average peak deceleration
- Average decay rate
- Average impulse
- Average max rotation
- Average angular displacement
- Average settling time
- After we collect all the data, we then run it through or scoring formula to figure out how well the case ranks.
We’ve got a few more ideas to implement for the next round of iPhone’s including more data collection during drops as well as high speed camera photos of the initial impacts.
Design
| Metric | Value | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 44.6 g | 45 g |
| Added Case Thickness | 45% | 51% |
| Added Overlook Bulk | 64% | 66% |
The Presidio 2 Grip still looks familiar, and that’s both a good and a bad thing. The finish is top notch, with a soft rubber coating and those signature grip ridges that transition from embedded on the back to protruding along the edges. That design used to feel cutting-edge, but now it’s starting to show its age. What really caught us off guard was the option to buy a non-MagSafe version. We did and immediately regretted it. Buying a case without MagSafe in 2025 feels like buying a car without cruise control. Sure, it works, but why would you do that?
Internally, things are less impressive. Speck has abandoned its older accessory lock design, and the MagSafe array now sits lower than the rest of the case and is taped in. The ribbed interior means the iPhone is suspended by TPU rather than fully wrapped, which sounds good on paper but doesn’t inspire confidence here. Build quality around the buttons is noticeably rough, with obvious injection points and misalignment. At 45g added weight and a 64% increase in bulk on a Pro Max, both figures land slightly below average but the execution doesn’t feel premium.
Accessibility & Handling
| Metric | Value | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Grip | Good grip from ridges; reduced on camera-button side due to cutout | – |
| Buttons | Integrated; stiff, misaligned, and visually messy | – |
| MagSafe Strength | Pull 8.3 N / Push 11.1 N | 10.1 N |
Grip is still decent, but it’s no longer spectacular. Because of the camera control cutout, you lose most of the grip strip on one side, which is a small thing that becomes obvious in daily use. The embedded ridges on the back help, but they don’t bite into your hand the way the older protruding ridges did. Integrated buttons are stiff, look rough, and feel like a step backward. Screen access is mid, with noticeable edges, but the port cutout is well done wide enough for any cable and chamfered enough to stay pinky-friendly.
MagSafe performance is basically average. Accessories take 8.3N to pull off and 11.1N to push on, landing about 2% below average. Nothing terrible here, but nothing impressive either — which kind of sums up the whole experience.
Protection
| Metric | Value | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Back Thickness | 2.1 mm | 2.4 mm |
| Corner Thickness | 2.9 mm | 2.9 mm |
| Air Pockets | Present | 10.1 N |
| Rigidity | 45.3 N | 29 N |
| Initial Impact | 9.942 G | 10.3 G |
| Rotation Rate | 145.24°/s | 300°/s |
| Time to Settle | 0.420 s | 0.53 s |
| Settling Rate | 0.155 s⁻¹ | 0.24 s⁻¹ |
| Total Force | 1.342 Ns | 1.5 Ns |
On paper, the protective design looks promising. Corner thickness comes in at 2.9mm, the back measures 2.1mm on non-MagSafe areas and 1.8mm over the MagSafe ring, and there’s a large air pocket in each corner. The case fits extremely tightly around the iPhone, taking 46N to remove it which is nearly double the average. Rigidity is interesting: the back has noticeable give, but the frame is very stiff. Bending the case 8mm in the center took 45N, about 45% higher than average.
In real drop tests, results are mixed. Corner drops logged 9.9G, right around average, with a rotation rate 43% below average meaning the phone doesn’t travel far after impact. However, settling was 31% slower, and while overall force was 7% better than average, there’s clearly not much damping after the initial hit. Face-down drops were fine, with initial impact 12% better than average and total force roughly average. Camera-lump drops were less impressive, with total force 14% higher than average, likely because the rigid rim is tied to a loose back with nothing to absorb the shock. All things considered, protection lands squarely in the average category.
Value
This is where things really fall apart. The Presidio 2 Grip isn’t cheap, and at this price point we expect better execution. The missing camera control coverage, stiff buttons, and visible build flaws are hard to excuse. There are cases that protect just as well or better while feeling more refined and better thought out.
Verdict
If we weren’t reviewers, would we buy the Speck Presidio 2 Grip? Honestly, no. There’s some nostalgia here, and we still appreciate what this case used to represent. But in 2025, average protection and dated design aren’t enough. Speck should’ve covered the camera control button and doubled down on the grip edges. As it stands, this one’s hard to recommend.