After the excitement of the iPad 2 case back in 2011 I've never bothered with an original Apple case or cover for my iPads. My new iPad Pro 9.7" is no exception.
Unusually for me I bought this latest model in store on the day of release without any kind of pre-order. I didn't even glance at the cases and covers as I already knew the prices from the online store and however nice they were there is no way they were worth what Apple was charging for them!
Once back home with my new tech I took to Amazon to try to find an acceptable alternative.
My requirements were simple enough:
- Something that covered the back
- Had a magnetic sleep/wake front cover
- Looked reasonable
I didn't think it would be much of an issue to find something but the majority of the options were out of stock until at least the end of April or clearly iPad Air 2 cases swiftly rebranded for the new model of iPad. Although the iPad Pro 9.7" and the iPad Air 2 are similar in dimensions there are distinct differences in the placement of the speakers, the sleep/wake magnet and the camera. Cases for the iPad Air 2 will not fit the new iPad Pro perfectly.
Add all that to the fact that I wanted to order via Amazon Prime for next day delivery and the choices were somewhat limited.
However, I did find a black case that ticked all the boxes except for one thing! Despite all the blurb explicitly stating the case was designed specifically for the iPad Pro 9.7" all the images on the sales page showed the cut-outs to be in the locations required for an iPad Air 2.
Which was correct, the blurb or the images? I took a risk and ordered one on the basis if it wasn't a perfect fit it was going straight back.
Well it arrived this morning and I'm happy to report it is a perfect fit for the Pad Pro 9.7". The quality is much better than the price would suggest making the offerings from Apple look even more exorbitantly priced than I already thought they were.
If you're in the market for an iPad Pro 9.7" case check out the KuGi iPad Pro 9.7" case for the ridiculous bargain price of only £6.95 (at the time of writing). That compares very favourably with £129 for the Apple Smart keyboard case or £94 for the Apple Smart Cover/Silicon Back combo!
Since the images on the Amazon page don't match the actual case here here are a few photographs to show just how well the case fits the new iPad Pro 9.7".
And given the price I think I can run to a buying a spare should I manage to wear the original out from overuse … not impossible given the use my tech gets!
