Be careful buying Nexus 6P cases: they may block the auto-focus laser

After learning that some of the Nexus 6P’s sensors are shielded by a black sheet of glass on the rear, including the camera’s laser for laster-assisted autofocus, one unfortunate revelation has come to light: many cases are blocking that laser.

Case makers appeared to have been in on the plans from the get-go, but their early renders now seem like little more than a hack job put together through leaked dimensions and CAD drawings. No one ever took into consideration that there could be anything other than a camera and flash on the rear panel, and thus their “ready before the device is official” cases now look kind of silly.

So if you’ve ordered one, be sure to double check the renders. If there’s no space exposed to the right of the camera sensor, it’s blocking the autofocus laser. You should do either one of two things:

1. Cancel the order and wait for proper cases to start showing up.
2. Contact the case manufacturer to see if they know about the flawed case design, and see if they plan to have the proper cutouts ready by the time it ships. (In the case of Verus, they’re already on it.) If not, refer to option #1.

And that’s that. It’s normally fine to buy cases before a phone has even been announced, but this is one of the rare instances where it might not have been so sweet to do so. If nothing else, at least you have a few more weeks before you’ll actually need one as the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X won’t begin shipping until late October.

[via XDA]