Ditch the glass: It's time to bring back less-fragile plastic smartphones (opens in new tab)

Personally I never use a case on my iPhone precisely because I want to enjoy the premium feel. I don't know if I'm luckier than the average person, but I've never broken or seriously damaged a phone by dropping it (and I have dropped my phone on various occasions). Especially with modern iPhones, they really seem pretty robust. The most fragile part is the screen, and that's not covered anyway.

For me a smartphone is a tool not a fashion statement. I remember when smartphones were new people showed them off but I don't see that nowadays.

This is the biggest concern for glass phones.

The coefficient of friction of gorilla glass seems negative at times, especially as so many other surfaces we're around are textureless.

After smashing the glass back on a Nexus about 10 years ago, all the phones I've bought since have been mid-range Android phones with plastic backs. Currently have a OnePlus Nord 2T - excellent phone. I'm probably atypical, but I'm sure I'm not alone.

Tastes change. This isn't some engineering or logistics constraint; if plastic phones have a real advantage, adoption is simply a matter of marketing.

"Tried that, didn't work"

https://world.hey.com/dhh/we-tried-that-didn-t-work-d9c42fe1

The all-metal iPod case was a masterpiece of ruggedness.

I remember seeing friends' that were dinged to hell, but still worked perfectly fine.

Exactly. Why make more durable phones when you can make an extra $30 by selling a case, too?

At which point that shiny expensive glass is "just" useless dead weight.

Maybe combine plastice and silicone layers in a "case". You could give it a military grade rating. Hmmmm.

Feature not a bug to those who sell replacements and repairs

You can't have wireless charging with a metal chassis AFAIK. Whether you value wireless charging is another question.

metal blocks RF

Conversely, I always use Apple's iPhone case and have broken ~2 iPhone 15 Pros and four iPhone 14 Pros, so I would very much appreciate a more durable phone.

Similar. Been no case since the iPhone 6. I have no idea how, but I’ve only broken one screen and across our family of four (kids only starting with iPhone X, others preferring cases), we’ve broken 2 iPhone screens and one iPod screen in that time. One iPhone screen was a flex-based breakage where the screen developed a defect while the glass was intact. For all I know, plastic screens might be more subject to that failure.

Each screen replacement cost me around $75 to replace DIY.

In exchange, I have 4 3-6 year old phones that look and function as new. If you hold them just right you can see fine scratches in the light, but at a casual glance, they appear unblemished. That would not be the case if the cases were plastic. I also get the convenience of wireless charging (not possible in metal cases).

I've never had a crash in my car either, I don't understand how anyone can - I think it's a symptom of having too much money /s

You never tripped? Slipped? Had a toddler run into you? Dropped as much as a glass? Are you actually a human?

Latest glass screen I've broken I did it while sleeping... fell asleep while reading reddit, woke up with the sound of the phone hitting ground. And that's one of the best outcomes I've had while falling asleep while using the phone. Worst ones have been sharing a link of whatever I was reading/watching to random people, liking random whatsapp statuses of people I didn't talk to since years and other similarly embarassing stuff. Maybe I should stop using a phone before bed.

I'm not clumsy at all, but pixel 7 is so slippery, that if you put it on a table/laptop with little aderence and maybe a bit of inclination, it can fell off. Meanwhile my older pixel 5 is the total opposite - it feels good in the hand and the grip is not slippery at all My even older pixel 3 is betweenn p5 and p7, it has a glass back but it's not that bad compared to p7. There are other advantages to plastic backs too: cheap, easy to replace, (usually) lighter compared to glass

I am pretty damn careful with my phones, and still managed to break 3 in the last 20 odd years (which I think is good going!) - one was knocked out my hands when someone bumped into me in the street, one slipped when I was showing a friend something, and my latest - I've no idea when the back glass smashed - it was in a case and one day when I cleaned the case I found the back was smashed.

I usually have both a screen protector and a case, but accidents happen.

I never did either until phones got too damn big. I also started dropping them after I had kids.

It might be possible that people live slightly more rugged lives than you do?

Sometimes things just fall out of your hand. You could be distracted by someone suddenly talking to you, bump into something, and lose your grip. Or have you never dropped a fork in your life either? Some people just get unlucky and it happens to their phones.

I've probably dropped mine at home 3 or 4 times, usually when trying to pick it up or set it down - but I got a nice soft case around it so nothing ever cracked. The real mystery is why people don't put a basic protective case on their expensive handheld devices.

And yet, people purchase new phones...some will be fashion-choices, some lost, most dropped. And then (for the last two) it's a rush to get a replacement. I regularly keep an eye on 'adequate' phones...just in case i fall in a river again and have to get a new-to-me one.

Don't have children who randomly pick up stuff from unexpected places I presume?