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Comment by acvny | Hacker News Reader

And by the way, what's with this cracked smartphone screen phenomenon?

Nothing. Smartphones are still very fragile. Eventually, pretty much everyone will crack their screen. Because usually the phone is perfectly usable with cracked glass, and because most smartphone designs are user-hostile, repairing the damage ranges from not economical to not possible in practice - so you see a lot of regular people walking around with cracked phones.

I've abused every single iPhone since the first one, only recently in the last couple of years putting a case on because they are too slippery now. Never had a single cracked screen, even dropping on pavement. You have to be quite unlucky to hit things just right.

Likewise here with a Samsung Galaxy S that lasted 8 years, without a case or cover. Plenty of dropping on all sorts of hard surfaces, no cracked screen. Some of the finish started smudging off on the back though. I have no idea what people are doing to cause such damage.

(Only ended up replacing that phone because it started just not picking up calls and texts for days at a time)

Well, my friend's S7 cracked itself overnight. My S4 cracked twice due to dropping it on the floor, both times I had the screen replacement. My current S7 fell frequently, but is still mostly intact. As far as I can tell, everyone in my immediate family cracked their smartphone at least once over past few years.

Beyond dropping, as far as I can tell, there are two other common causes of screen breakage. One, sitting on it (a lot of people carry their phones in their back pockets, which is something I cannot understand; beyond accidents, this makes them vulnerable to pickpocketing). Two, women sometimes crush their phones in their purses (especially when they are in hard covers that act as levers when an item gets between it and the cover).

I have dropped multiple phones and never broken the glass. I dropped my iPhone XS hard onto the sidewalk, but it hit the side of my case and while the case was quite damaged, the phone is pristine.

That's great, good for you.

Thanks! I appreciate it.

The funny thing is that each generation of Gorilla Glass is much stronger than the previous one. And what do phone manufacturers do? They make the glass thinner since it's now stronger. The end result is that the phone is as easy to crack as with the previous generation glass.

Is there a phenomenon? If anything I feel like about five years ago nearly every phone I saw in the wild had a cracked screen and now it's far fewer, but my sample bias probably also changed with age.

Anecdotally glass screen protectors seem to have grown a lot more popular. When you buy your phone at a store chances are they will tell you it's a must-have addon (and they are not entirely wrong).

Screens also get more shatter resistant all the time, but at the same time the industry seems to constantly find new phone geometries that look very prone to fall damage, so that probably balances out.

People buy expensive phones, drop them/don't treat them like they're expensive, and then can't afford to replace them.

Yes, indeed, that's the problem. People buy a $1000 iphone without actually being able to afford it, pay monthly instalments for 5 years and then they drop the phone and can't afford to repair it.

It's a pretty common problem many experience for some period. Explaining a problem which "is easy to avoid" and coupling it with another you've already experienced "that made using my phone harder" reinforces the idea "this could happen to you".

People like glass phone screens but drop them on the floor by accident and it cracks. I don't think it's any more complicated than that. Perhaps it also projects some aloofness and coolness, the way torn and worn jeans are fashionable.

I'm not sure what you're asking. People drop their phones; the screens crack. People are too busy|lazy|cheap to get it fixed in a timely manner. Anecdotally, this group has a high percentage of people with younger kids - why replace the screen today if your toddler is going to drop the phone again tomorrow?

I have four children. I've been using all-screen smartphones for the entire time that there have been all-screen smartphones.

I've endured zero cracked screens. Ever. A couple of my kids are old enough to have had smartphones for a couple of years now (kids these days) -- they've had zero cracked screens as well.

This is one of those posts that tend to raise people's ire, but I'm just pointing out that a lot of us manage to never have cracked screens. It isn't just a normal that we all tolerate. And yes, I've always used a case -- I have a case in hand before I even take the phone out of the box. It seems insane to not have a case. Maybe when phones are unbreakable I can enjoy the sleek design, but until then it's a Spigen 100% of the time.

Yeah, don't understand it either. Never cracked a screen in my life, and I've never even used a screen protector or a case. Always confused by all the cracked screens I see around me.

I put a case and a screen protector on my current iPhone 7 at the time of purchase. Dropped it on the driveway the next morning. The screen cracked. Shit happens (and I did fix it immediately).

I do agree that failure to use a case is insane for a device that's as expensive as a smartphone. But, I see lots of people will to risk a $100+ screen over buying/installing a $30 case. My son does this. He probably breaks one screen/year. Whatever, he's 25 and it's his money.

I've cracked a screen exactly once. I was at a beer festival. I bought a new phone and a Spigen case the following day.

You are lucky/well prepared. I am similarly protective of my phone. But lots of folks can only afford cheap phones and/or cheap cases.

I don’t see many cracked screens in the US anymore, but I see them all the time in Vietnam.

Hah and will it really be cracked in the same spot for every single person?

Cracked screen is a serious price reducer in the second hand market. Great opportunity to get better specs if you want a purely functional device.

Unless you're after fashion accessories. Cracked screens are no go for fashion accessories. Can't let other people think you're too poor to buy an un-cracked phone.

"Unless you're after fashion accessories"

Having a crack in the display is an enormous functional detriment on the device. Holding it as a fashion element is absolutely ludicrous.

If you are even a 4th tier Instagram influencer, you can't have anything but a pristine latest generation iPhone. If your phone back is visible in the picture and you cant see the three iPhone 11 lenses, you are basically screwed.

iPhone 11 Pro lenses. iPhone 11 only has two.

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