About Twelve South
Twelve South was founded in 2009 by Andrew and Leigh Ann Green around a dining room table in Mount Pleasant's I'On neighborhood, South Carolina, with a goal of serving what the couple saw as a "massively underserved" market: accessories designed exclusively for Apple products. The company moved to nearby Charleston in 2017 and is still run today by a small team of roughly 20, with products distributed worldwide under a philosophy the brand sums up as "We're not just Mac friendly, we're Apple only."
That focus shows in the catalog: rather than chasing every accessory category, Twelve South designs a handful of new products each year, including the leather BookBook cases, HiRise charging stands, the StayGo USB-C hub, and the AirFly line of Bluetooth audio adapters, alongside the Curve family of laptop stands. The original Curve for MacBooks and laptops backs that design-first reputation with independent praise: The Gadgeteer called it "a beautifully designed combination of metal and grippy rubber coating," and the newer Curve SE has gone on to win a Recommended Award from High Performance Laptops.
Brand website: twelvesouth.com
What Twelve South makes
Twelve South's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Curve laptop stands
vertical MacBook and laptop stands with self-adjusting steel arms; Curve, Curve Flex, and Curve SE variants — featured on DeskRated
BookBook
leather wallet-style cases for iPhone, MacBook, and iPad
HiRise
wireless charging stands for iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods
StayGo
compact USB-C hub that adds extra ports to a MacBook or iPad
AirFly
Bluetooth transmitter for using AirPods or wireless headphones with non-Bluetooth sources like airplane entertainment systems
PlugBug
multi-port travel chargers
Why we recognized Twelve South
The DeskRated Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Twelve South earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, used at a real desk, and judged on merit.
Twelve South products we rated highly
Twelve South Curve for MacBooks and Laptops
Self-adjusting bent steel arms grip laptops of any width without size-specific configuration, fitting 13-inch through 16-inch MacBooks without modification. The vertical-leaning silhouette occupies dramatically less desk depth than a horizontal stand, and the steel frame with silicone arm pads provides metal-grade rigidity while protecting the laptop chassis during seating and removal. Verified buyers back it with a 4.8-star average across nearly 2,900 reviews.
Read the 8 Best Laptop Stands of 2026 guide →What earned Twelve South the recognition
- Founded in 2009 by Andrew and Leigh Ann Green in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, built specifically around what the founders saw as a massively underserved market for Apple-only accessories, and still run today from Charleston by a small team distributing worldwide.
- The Curve's self-adjusting bent steel arms and full silicone padding accommodate any MacBook width without size-specific configuration, in a vertical silhouette that recovers desk depth for shallow desks or monitor-heavy workstations.
- Independent reviewers have praised the Curve line's build and design: The Gadgeteer called the original Curve "a beautifully designed combination of metal and grippy rubber coating," and the Curve SE has won a Recommended Award from High Performance Laptops.
- Twelve South designs a focused, curated catalog of Apple-only accessories each year rather than a sprawling product line, spanning laptop stands, charging docks, leather cases, and travel audio adapters.
- Nearly 2,900 verified Amazon reviews at a 4.8-star average back the Curve's reputation among vertical laptop stands in our testing.