Dbrand’s new X-Ray skins let you ‘see inside’ 125 different gadgets


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From phones to gaming handhelds.

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Dbrand’s “Light” X-Ray skins. There are “Dark” ones too.

a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>Dbrand’s “Light” X-Ray skins. There are “Dark” ones too.
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Dbrand just sued a rival casemaker for copying its “Teardown” skins that let you see under the back cover of your phone, laptop, or handheld gaming machine.

It’s also — purely coincidentally, I’m sure! — announcing a brand-new set of skins that take the idea even farther. No, I don’t mean “further”; I’m talking about going literally millimeters deeper into a device’s components with a 450-kilovolt X-ray, showing details you can’t get just by photographing a gadget with its back cover off.

An Google Pixel with an X-ray skin.

An Google Pixel with an X-ray skin.

a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>An Google Pixel with an X-ray skin.
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And D-Brand’s new X-Ray skins aren’t just for a few iPhones and Samsung Galaxys, either. The company has X-rayed 125 different devices including Dell XPS, Razer Blade and Framework laptops, Microsoft Surface Pros, the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch, Sony PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and the Lenovo Legion Go handheld.

Dbrand CEO Adam Ijaz tells The Verge they’re captured by a lab called Haven Metrology at 50-micron resolution:

The machine is a custom-built 450 kilovolt unit that uses a 431.8mm detector, able to capture details at a 50 micron resolution. For context, the next best source is about 120 microns (i.e. 240% lower resolution). This pairing of a large detector and high fidelity resolution allows us to get extraordinary detail in an uninterrupted scan – no need for parallax stitching. There are technically a handful of companies (military defense & space exploration) who have similar hardware, but even they go to Haven when they need a more advanced solution. Rough cost is about US$1.5M for the build.

dbrand holds an exclusive license with Haven Metrology for the use of digital X-Ray imaging in the production of hardware accessories (e.g. phone cases, skins). Unless [redacted military defense contractor] wants to start making X-Ray cases, no one else has access to this tech for our purposes.

I’ve definitely heard of 50-micron scanning before, but perhaps there’s something to the “uninterrupted scan” part. I’m looking forward to checking out the final print quality.

An Xbox Series X with an X-ray skin.

An Xbox Series X with an X-ray skin.

a:hover]:text-black [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-e9 dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray-63 [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-13 dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63″>An Xbox Series X with an X-ray skin.
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That’s something I’ll be doing on my own dime, by the way, because Dbrand finally got me! I’m not a skin guy — heck, I tend to be a naked phone guy — and I’ve resisted the company’s most nostalgia-inducing efforts before. But I’m also an X-ray guy, and a transparent gadget guy, and so… I’ve already ordered a skin for my definitely-not-small Z Flip 5.

Oh yes, nearly forgot to mention: The X-Ray skins give you both “Dark” and “Light” versions for a limited time so you don’t have to choose — which is good, because depending on how much is going on inside any given gadget, one of those two often looks a bit better IMO. The price works out to somewhere between $25 and $50 before you add tax and shipping.

“Buy one, get both”.

“Buy one, get both”.

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Disclosure: The Verge recently collaborated with Dbrand on a series of skins and cases.


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