We have all found ourselves thinking at one time or another that we don’t need a phone case. In that moment, we are fools, and Zeus punishes the arrogant.
The only thing more inevitable than death and taxes is that you will drop your phone. You hold the thing all the time, and you’re always just one step away from shattering this object made of glass on the cruel and unforgiving ground. One cannot evade destiny. Sure, the phone usually looks and feels much nicer when it’s unencumbered by silicone, but that’s the kind of thinking that leads to STDs and unwanted pregnancy.
A replacement screen for an iPhone 14 Pro Max is $619. For a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, you’re looking at $475. That didn’t stop Apple from a little while releasing an ad that basically gave a reason to ditch the phone case, at least when using one of its newer, tougher iPhones. The iPhone 14 boasts a special type of protective glass called ‘Ceramic Shield’, which Apple reckons offers scratch resistance and four times the drop protection versus iPhone models without the special glass.
The reason for having a case is not because a case is pretty – but because we want to protect the thing we’ve either forked out a couple thousand dollars for or signed onto a two- to three-year plan for. Here’s the ad.
Sure, you can insure your phone against a broken screen which costs hundreds of dollars plus excess charges when you actually use it, or you can buy a nice phone case for $50.
Totally intentional phone case stress tests
As technology journalists, we’re professionals who never actually never drop a phone by accident. Instead, we stage random drop tests that can occur at any time without warning.
For example, about a year or so ago, I was doing a Fitness+ treadmill workout with an iPhone 12 Pro Max on a stand. And perhaps I got a little too into it, causing the tilted treadmill to bounce the phone into oblivion. Time slowed as it fell more than a metre off the top of the treadmill, bouncing on the hard floor into a glass barrier, narrowly stopping it from falling all the way to the ground floor. From there, it slid under the treadmill with an accompanying loud crunching noise. Oh no.
But, thanks to the official Apple leather phone case, it was completely fine. The leather on the case was of course torn up and the plastic on the inside was visibly cracked. But while the EFM screen protector was scratched to hell, the phone was 100 per cent unscathed. There is no universe in which it would have survived such a fall unprotected.
Another example of one of our totally purposeful testing experiments is from a weekend when I took a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra out of a pocket with wet hands. It immediately dropped more than a metre onto a tiled floor. It bounced impressively on the corner of the padded, military-grade EFM Case Armour case, and was then completely fine, nestled beneath the kitchen island.
Could it have survived that without the case? We will never know, because we don’t plan on finding out. But probably not.
The same thing has happened with dropping phones in Tech 21 cases down flights of concrete stairs. Not something we would recommend with or without a case, but is certainly something we’d prefer to happen with a protective case with properly padded corners for shock absorption.
To phone case or not to phone case
Last week, I took the case off the iPhone 14 Pro Max I use to charge it via an after-market wireless charger. It’s a 1TB phone, the one that costs a cool $2,769, so I’ve been using a case – after all, it costs more than my car is worth.
Picking it up afterwards and taking it into the kitchen in the office, I was met with shocked faces, “how can you use such a big phone without a case?”, they asked.
I don’t, but I did, before phones cost as much as they did.
The three top-tier phones from Apple, Samsung and Google in 2023 are not cheap. The cheapest iPhone 14 Pro Max (128GB) costs $1,899, the latest Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at $1,949 (256GB) and the Google Pixel 7 Pro is $1,299 when you opt for 128GB.
It prompted us to run a straw poll in the Gizmodo Australia office, 59 people said they use a case and seven said they didn’t. Here’s why a few of us don’t.
I’ve got an iPhone 11 and I don’t use a case because it’s cracked and I want a new one but I’m waiting for it to completely die and wanting to speed along the process (weird logic). I also think it looks and feels much better (pre-cracks) so just running with it now. It’s not too smashed but it’s pretty cracked on both the front and back and I dropped it in the toilet and water damaged the face ID so I’m extra keen to buy a new one as opposed to fix the screens (which would be at least $400 anyway). – Nell
I had an iPhone 11 for about two-three years, but recently upgraded to an iPhone 14 Pro last week! (Still no case). I had a case on my old iPhone 4 and kinda hated it. It felt really clunky and more of a nuisance. I also never drop my phone or do anything with it that would put it at risk to break. I had water damage on an old iPhone 11 but had insurance, so it got replaced no issues (shoutout to Vodafone). I also don’t really like a lot of phone case designs. – Ben
I have the iPhone from like…two years ago. I used to have a case but I honestly just… like how it feels and I look after my phone, I don’t really drop it. I don’t have phone insurance, but I guess I just factor in the possibility of a $150 payment to fix the screen one day (hasn’t happened yet). I also have a conspiracy that the case actually is what breaks your phone, but that’s mostly dumb. – Brad
Another iPhone 11 no-caser.
I have an iPhone 11 and I’ve never used a case. Nope, no insurance. – Hugh
One Googler who uses a phone case only because the phone is a review unit under loan from Google.
I have a Pixel 7 Pro. I use a phone case on the device because it’s a review unit provided by Google, however, I often get tired of the device being cased, so I prefer to have it out of case. Phone insurance is a thing? – Zac
Not using a phone case is rare, but it seems many people (at least in our office) don’t want to use one, they’re just using one because the cost of not far outweighs the cost of covering the pretty phone you’ve shelled out hundreds (even thousands) of dollars for.
There’s some downsides, but…
Of course, there are downsides to cases:
All that plastic that you’ll only use for a year or two is pretty bad for the environment, and they’re weirdly expensive for what they are. Plus, some of them age in less than flattering ways.
But some of them can be wallets, others have MagSafe, and they allow you to further customise your phone. They also protect you from your own clumsiness, which is the true nemesis of most people.
Some also make claims about being anti-microbial that we lack the ability to prove one way or the other, but it sounds like a positive thing.
So please, for the love of all that is holy, use a phone case. Pride comes before a fall.
It would be great to get to a stage where we know for certain that our phones won’t get damaged or shatter to a million pieces when they’re dropped. But for now, we still see phones as a luxury, at least for as long as they’re priced that way.
Phone makers, if you’re reading, we’re happy with camera systems, battery life and storage – what we want is to get away without using a case.
This article has been updated since it was first published.