Sourcing custom phone cases from China

Factory or reseller

Many online listings for custom phone cases are trading companies that pass orders to a factory. That is not always bad, but you pay a margin and lose control of the moulds and print files. A real factory can show its business licence with manufacturing in scope, its injection or silicone moulding machines and printing lines (UV printing, pad printing or heat transfer), and a library of moulds for current phone models.

Ask for a live video walk-through of the lines running, a sample made from your artwork on the model you need, and the name of the unit that will make the order. We check this before you pay; see factory verification.

UK duty by construction

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 27 September 2026, its search index maps a silicone smartphone case to 3926 90 97 90, other articles of plastics, at 6%, and a phone case to the containers of heading 4202 where the outer surface decides the rate: leather 2%, plastic sheeting 8%, textile 2%. The 0% suspensions on 3926 90 97 90 cover only listed technical items, not phone cases, and no line checked carried anti-dumping duty.

Hard TPU or polycarbonate shells can be argued either way, so for a large programme ask HMRC for an Advance Tariff Ruling and confirm the commodity code.

Safety and chemicals

Phone cases are consumer products under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005. Entry 50 of Annex XVII to UK REACH limits each listed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon to 1 mg/kg in rubber or plastic parts of articles for the general public that come into direct and prolonged or short-term repetitive contact with the skin, so ask for a PAH test on the case material.

Do not print phone makers' logos or trade marks on cases; describe compatibility in words, such as the model name, in your listings.

Worked duty example

Take a hypothetical order of 5,000 printed silicone phone cases, entered under 3926 90 97 90: £6,000 free on board plus £400 of freight and insurance gives a customs value of £6,400. The 6% duty on silicone phone cases comes to £384, and import VAT is 20% of £6,784, which is £1,356.80. If you are VAT-registered you normally reclaim the £1,356.80, leaving £384 as the real cost at the border. Step by step: UK import duty and VAT.

Inspection checklist

Fit: test samples on the actual phone models for button feel, camera cut-out, port access and edge lift, and check each model in the order.

Print: check colour against the approved proof, registration and rub resistance, and inspect for scratches and dust under the print.

Material: check clear TPU against a retained sample for yellowing, and check packaging, barcodes and model labels.

What goes wrong

Phone case orders fail on fit, print and yellowing. A mould for the wrong model generation is used, buttons are stiff, prints scratch or fade, and clear cases yellow within weeks.

Approve a sample per model and inspect before shipping. See our quality inspection guide.

Cambridge China Bridge sources custom phone cases for webshops and brands in the UK and overseas, including first orders, and adds no minimum of its own. See small orders.