Dropped one without the case: lens onto concrete floor and it chipped it.
Consequence of fumbling while trying to take it out of the case for SD card retrieval and charging. Now, I unmount the case, take it to a desk in a carpeted room & open the case.
I never used cases - as a result, both my 3GS and my iPhone 4 ended up with overly scratched lens caps - so much I had to actually remove the cap on the last one, since taking pictures was basically impossible...
I’d shatter the glass every year, if not multiple times a year, without a case, is why.
I probably drop my phone on concrete or tile at least once every couple months.
I’ve broken my fair share. I’ve also had a couple that didn’t shatter but had chips and separation develop around the edges. Matter of time before water kills one like that.
My 14 Pro's back, plus one camera, completely shattered in one drop. It's luck of the draw (or nearly indistinguishable from it). I still go caseless, though.
No issues, no scratches on the lens. If anything less of the lens has a chance to contact the surface (since it’s on an angle).
I never use cases. I also never drop my phones (and have AppleCare+ just in case), but I did accidentally drop my phone from 5-10 cm onto my keys in my pocket and that left a little scratch in the edge of the phone – as is usual with aluminium.
I dropped my phone at the weekend without a case. I now have a shattered screen. :/ It's about the 5th time I've dropped my phone and this is the first time something like this has happened.
I used a case briefly but stopped (after it was damaged when I had precariously balanced it about 2m above the ground to use it as a torch and then knocked it to the tiles below). I don’t really suffer from the prevalence of broken screens. Am I just careful or is if from people with loose pockets running around or moving some other way (eg skateboarding)?
I occasionally drop it from my pocket onto not-too-hard ground without damage and I bent the corner a bit dropping it on tarmac when I was drunk once but otherwise it’s unscathed. Maybe I’m just super lucky.
I mostly have a case for the extra grip. I had issues with dropping it and have basically a grippy rubber sleeve for a case. I've probably dropped 10 or so times and I'd guess 1 or 2 of them would have have caused cracks with out the case.
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.
If have good reflexes you can sort of kick the phone with your feet, so that a fall of ~1.5m into stone leaves only minor scratches on you un-cased phone.
It always surprises me how seemingly indestructible and simultaneously fragile phones are.
I've broken two phones in my life; both of them had on robust cases. The first time, I knocked my phone off of my desk at work. It fell three feet to the carpet and shattered the screen. The second time, I missed my pocket and dropped the phone 2-3 feet. Completely shattered the back glass and sent a hairline crack through the screen.
I've dropped my phones so many other times, in much worse ways (sometimes with no case), yet in these two instances they break. I'm almost at the point of not using cases, but I know my anecdotal experiences don't reflect reality.
I haven’t had a case on my iPhone X in at least a year. The only damage is a very slight crack in the glass surrounding the camera lens (not the lens itself)
I like the drop test results. My pixel's glass chipped when it fell out of my pocket when I was sitting on a concrete floor. First phone I've ever gotten a case for.
Clumsy cases absolutely destroy the elegance of these beautiful devices.
I'm not as confident about dropping them though.
However the Samsung Galaxy A3 I use has proved to be very durable.
Among casual drops, it has sustained multiple drops to stone floors from considerable heights and being violently thrown across the room (not by me).
The aluminium casing has some small dents and the Corning Gorilla Glass 4 screen has a few small scratches. Otherwise it's still in excellent condition.
I use my Samsung S9 without any case since the Gorilla glass is more than sufficient for me. It had its fair share of falls on the road when I was getting out of a car - still looks almost new. It even slid down from the top of a roof into the gutter when I was fixing an antenna there - few minor scratches on the back, nothing more.
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 did have a case on it! But I'm pretty sure I dropped it more than my SE. Maybe the overall size contributed to that, but I've gotta think the rounded edges play a factor, even when a cast gives a bit more grip/thickness.
My wife's phone fell off a countertop, resulting in a completely smashed screen. (Basically a dense spiderweb of cracks covering the entire screen.) She wasn't using a case at the time, otherwise there's a good chance that wouldn't have happened.
However, it was fairly cheap to replace the screen (~$50) so maybe there's still no point in getting a case.
Consequence of fumbling while trying to take it out of the case for SD card retrieval and charging. Now, I unmount the case, take it to a desk in a carpeted room & open the case.
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