What's the point?

This is pretty cool:  In the paper today was a story about a guy in Montana that makes iPad, iMac, and iPhone accessories out of wood.  It seems pine beetles had killed 10,000 trees on his family's property and he was trying to figure out what to do with the dead trees.   He came up with "Bad Beetle".

Before it rots into mush the wood is salvaged and "re-purposed" into these attractive cases and stands.

If I was into fancy cases and such I'd probably get one myself.  But here's what I don't get:  Apple, Samsung and all the rest spend billions of dollars to miniaturize their devices, right?  It's a HUGE deal when they can make a case .02 of an inch thinner.  It gives them massive bragging rights and they can charge a few bucks more....image is everything.

Then we buy these gadgets and before we leave the store buy fashion cases the size of a small paperback book.  Or worse....

I guess that's supposed to be a bar of chocolate?

Is this really an iPhone case?  For mom or the kid?

What's the point in making them a silly millimeter smaller if we're gonna wrap 'em in huge cases?  My iPhone case is just a thin sticky type of rubber, and that's only because I'm too butterfingered to hold on to the slick glass and chrome case it comes with straight out of the box.  And I'm cheap.

S