Last year, it was announced that CaseLabs was being reincarnated as a Swedish company. Now, the new owner is detailing his plans for the company, but seems to be starting slow.
Emil Rytterstedt, a fan of the brand, bought the rights to the brand in 2021 after the California company shut down in 2018, citing hardship from tariffs on materials. In a press release published by TechPowerUp, Rytterstedt outlined a series of steps the company will take as it ramps up under his new management.
There's already a revamped website (with an extensive FAQ), and Rytterstadt and a partner (named only as "Daniel") intend to add an online shop soon, which the two are calling a "soft-launch."
When will the "hard-launch" take place? It's a bit muddy. Rytterstadt wrote that it "will happen when we feel that we have manufacturing, quality control, logistics etc under control," at which point the company will offer its prior models, accessories and parts — effectively setting it back where it was prior to the shutdown.
While CaseLabs is no longer the U.S., it looks like Rytterstadt and Daniel still want to operate there. Rytterstadt wrote that they're looking for a partner in North America in the hopes of decreasing shipping costs overseas. Until then, he suggests, CaseLabs will "look into off-setting the higher shipping cost to North America with a discount."
New Case Models and a Survey
The vision includes, at some point, new and revised case models. Rytterstadt wrote that he hopes to update models with "Revision A" changes, citing when the SMA8 case was modernized with the title SMA8-A. Following that, he says the company will start developing new designs, floating the possibility of an small form factor (SFF) case, either between 7 - 10 liters or ~15L, which is a pretty big range.
There's no timeline yet, though Rytterstadt says the company is putting together a roadmap, which should help enthusiast PC builders following the company's re-emergence get an idea of what's going on.
In the meantime, the company says that it's going to blast out a survey to its newsletters subscribers to find out which spare parts are most in demands from existing CaseLabs case owners. After that? Well, you'll surely be on CaseLabs marketing emails. In a previous survey, the company learned about a desire for tempered glass and the SFF case.
It's unclear if Rytterstadt and Daniel have any higher-level changes in mind for the company. In the release, they write that they want to "develop CaseLabs as a brand and expand our product range." The original CaseLabs was largely in custom water-cooled PC builds, which caters exclusively to the most hardcore enthusiasts. But before expanding, they'll have to get the new company up and running, which may be a mammoth task.
