A metal shell doesn't buy a strong magnet: MobileReviewsEh put six metal MagSafe wallets through a force meter, three readings each, and against its own average of 22.4 N across 30 wallets, only the Fantom M Extra Slim came out ahead. The Ridge Wallet sat so low the meter couldn't read it.
Hold and shake test, per the video
| Wallet | Magnetic hold | Cards lost of 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Fantom M Extra Slim | 28 N | 3 |
| Puncube Mech Wallet | 22 N | 4 |
| CODE 118 Aluminum Wallet | 19 N | 5 |
| VULKIT Magnetic Pop-Up Wallet | 16 N | 0 |
| Ekster Cardholder Pro | 16 N | 5, inside two shakes |
| Ridge Wallet | under 5 N | 5 |
The shake test was five cards, upside down, five hard shakes. VULKIT, the one Amazon brand in the group, was the only wallet to keep everything.
Getting a card out
- Fantom. Cards fan out in a steady arc, and a cutout gives the top card its own quick exit.
- Puncube. Cards slide up from the side with the same gap every time, the most predictable of the pop-up styles.
- CODE 118, Ekster and VULKIT. The push-button pop-up spits the stack out unevenly, so a card in the middle usually means pulling the whole stack.
- Ridge. No mechanism at all: one card means emptying the clip and stuffing everything back in.
The Ridge finished last, and the channel's verdict on sticking it to the back of a phone is blunt.
you're treating your iPhone as an accessory to your Ridge wallet
What to know
- The Ekster has magnets on both faces, so a MagSafe grip on its back can pull the wallet off the phone, and the channel's unit shipped with its magnet polarity wrong.
- Size barely separates them: the CODE 118 is the slimmest and lightest at 9.3 mm and 60 g, the VULKIT the bulkiest at 17 mm and 91 g.
- The final ranking puts the Fantom first, the Puncube second, the VULKIT and CODE 118 tied third, the Ekster fifth and the Ridge last.
The magnet is most of what a MagSafe wallet is, and this test makes that case better than any spec sheet. iPhoners who stack a grip or a stand on the back should rule out double-sided designs like the Ekster before comparing anything else.
