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. Image: Dbrand
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. Image: Dbrand
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”. Image: Dbrand
