According to recent reports and some hidden strings of code found by XDA Developers after deconstructing the latest Samsung Theme Store APK preloaded on the Galaxy S9, the Korean OEM is entertaining the idea of selling custom cases to its customers through the Theme Store application. Samsung has yet to make any official announcements on the matter but the strings of code suggest that customers would have the option of personalizing their phone cases and pair them with a matching theme, though the extent at which the service would allow users to customize their purchases is unclear.
Assuming that Samsung will indeed start offering custom cases through the Theme Store application, it’s likely that the OEM will also allow its partnered case designers to offer their products through the platform. Presumably, each one of these custom cases would have an embedded NFC chip designed to let the phone know exactly what case it’s wearing, and give users the ability to download the appropriate matching theme via the Samsung Theme Store. However, it’s not entirely clear whether users would be able to choose between existing themes with or without modifying them, or whether they will also have the option of creating their own personalized and unique designs with matching themes. There’s also the question of which Samsung smartphone models would be able to take advantage of this service, though the company’s latest flagship phones are a fair guess to begin with.
As yet, theme designers already have a wide range of tools to work with via the existing Samsung Mobile Theme Editor geared toward developers, so it would be interesting to see how or if the Theme Editor will receive any new updates to support the creation of custom cases. However, as is usually the case with APK teardowns, these strings of code hinting at the distribution of custom cases through the Theme Store don’t necessarily guarantee that the service will eventually go live. The code surely highlights the fact that Samsung has or still is considering offering custom cases in this manner but the company may still drop the idea entirely.