Nearly every high-end smartphone today is made of metal and glass—and they all look the same. Glass on the front, metal wrapped around the sides, and usually a combination of the two on the back. Plastic has been banished to “cheap” phones, but it really shouldn’t be that way.
This wasn’t always the case, of course. Up until around 2015, it was not unusual for flagship Android phones to feature plastic back covers. But somewhere along the line, it fell out of favor, and now we’re stuck with metal and glass. It’s time for a change.
The illusion of “premium” materials
Plastic gets a bad rap
The smartphone industry has spent years pushing the idea that “premium” phones are heavy, slippery, and fragile. We’ve been conditioned to view metal and glass as the gold standard, but in reality, they have major shortcomings. Plastic, on the other hand—especially high-grade polycarbonate—is a far superior material for the way people actually use their phones.
Phone manufacturers aren’t the only ones at fault, though. People hear the word “plastic” and think of flimsy grocery bags and disposable cutlery. However, there’s a massive difference between the thin-shell plastic you’d find on a $150 phone and the milled unibody polycarbonate from the classic Nokia Lumia series. When plastic is done right, it isn’t a cost-cutting measure. It actually makes the phone better.
Think about this: If metal and glass are so great, why are phone cases almost exclusively made from various types of plastic? A high-quality plastic phone essentially has its own case built in. It’s pretty weird that almost everyone puts their expensive metal and glass phone in a cheap plastic case. We’re hiding the design and adding extra bulk just for durability that could be included from the start.
Plastic is more fun, too
Life in plastic, it’s fantastic
One of the coolest things about those old Nokia Lumia phones was their colors. Nowadays, even “colorful” phones are pretty muted. Nokia’s phones were bright yellow, cyan, red, orange, and lime green. It offered black and white as well, but unlike today, those were treated as secondary colors. The “hero” shots always featured the bright yellow and cyan models.
Durability also benefits color. Instead of a coating on metal or a film under glass, the color was baked directly into the material. If you managed to scratch a bright yellow Lumia 920, it was still yellow underneath that scratch. Compare that to a modern metal phone, where a little scratch can remove the finish. Premium plastic phones hide their age better.
Beyond the looks, there was a more “human” feel to those unibody plastic phones, too. Metal is a great conductor of heat, which means your phone is usually going to feel cold if it’s been sitting on a counter or too warm after extended use. Plastic has a much more “neutral” feel. One of my favorite phones of all time, the Pixel 5, had a super nice matte plastic back, and it was probably the nicest feeling phone I’ve ever owned.
It’s not just about looks
Plastic has a technical edge, too
We often forget that metal is effectively a Faraday cage, which is why phones with metal sides have those plastic antenna lines breaking up the design. Plastic is essentially invisible to radio waves, which means better cell signal and Wi-Fi. It also handles wireless charging naturally without needing a glass window to let the energy through.
Of course, metal phones work perfectly fine, but it is a design constraint. The antenna lines and charging windows are simply not needed with plastic. Part of the appeal of those unibody, polycarbonate shells for Nokia Lumia phones was the completely smooth and seamless design from front to back. Reception and charging were not things anyone had to worry about.
Bring back creativity
I’m not trying to argue that glass and metal phones are ugly. My personal daily driver is a Pixel 10, and I happen to think it’s a very attractive device. That being said, I can’t help but miss the look and feel of some of the plastic phones I’ve owned in the past. It’s a shame that not only have high-end phones become extremely similar in design, but also in materials and colors.
Please stop acting like phone thickness matters—nobody actually cares
Smartphones have gotten ridiculously good over the years. Screen resolutions went from 480p to 4K, performance has more than quadrupled, and cameras are well over 20MP. They’re super thin and sleek now, too, and yet some would have you believe thickness is still a problem. It’s not.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
