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Comment by addicted | Hacker News Reader

The possibility of it being thinner simply means you can maintain the current size and increase battery size.

I think phones are obviously too thin already as evidenced by the thick covers covering nearly every one of them.

The covers is the very reason they need to be thin. Seems circular perhaps. But you really don’t want the bare metal/glass to be the thing taking a hit when you drop your phone. And lots of people like to personalise their phones with those covers.

So having phone+cover being the ideal size is realistically what will be best for most people.

That may leave the bare phone a bit on the thin side, but that’s a necessary trade-off.

You can also combine phone and wallet and still have it be a nice and reasonable thickness.

> The possibility of it being thinner simply means you can maintain the current size and increase battery size

May be but I think they will utilize the space for more sensors and optical camera equipment.

Compared to early 2010s the current average smartphone battery capacity is 3-4x higher.

Do we know how much of that is due to increase in average battery volume vs increase in energy density?

From an empirical assessment, volume has gotten bigger. Part of it stems from the devices getting bigger as well. However, I would wager energy density hasn't improved as much as the increase in volume, given that devices got bigger first.

I think this can also be corroborated by the fact that there are less and less small smartphones options. And while there are some, they're plagued by poor battery performance. See latest iPhone SE.

There's indeed, by this logic, reason to believe less space taken by other components lead to better battery life by the sheer volume available as a result.

For me the reason for the covers is not to prevent bending (a problem with too thin devices) but to prevent scrapes and cracks when the phone falls.

Agreed. Although I took the cover off my old Samsung (s10e) about 18 months ago in the hopes for an excuse to replace it. I've dropped it and banged it on things and other such random potential damage so many times and there's barely a dent or scratch anywhere.

I'm impressed and annoyed. That said, I have very much enjoyed not having a cover. It feels so much better in the pocket and in the hand

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.

The mechanics of a drop are complex. The phones are designed to distribute the forces and survive most falls, but there are ways that the phone can fall where it is very hard to prevent damage. Falls on the corners or edges tend to just scratch the case. Falls on the back or face tend to shatter the glass. That means that in 8 out of 10 basic fall scenarios the phone has a good chance of surviving. Of course with sufficient height and impact, the structure cannot diffuse the energy enough to avoid severe deformation and breakage. For face plants, just a tiny rock can focus the energy and crack a screen that might otherwise survive the fall.

External cases provide protection from scratches and scrapes in low energy falls. That is most of what I’ve experience so I put on a thin case for that. An external case can provide some cushion to dissipate some of the impact energy to reduce the change of deformation. That is where thicker is usually better. For me, that scenario is less likely so I don’t bother with thick cases.

For me it is to prevent bending and because the material on the back of my phone bothers my skin.

When I did my last upgrade the box was damaged and the phone bent at about a 20 degree angle. Made me a bit nervous about how sturdy they actually are.

Ive had every iPhone since launch upto the 8s+

I have dropped and broken so many fn iphones - once, I had just picked up a new phone and went to dinner where the restaraunt had concrete floors... I had that phone for ~6 hours.

I dropped it and broke it because I hate cases, and the iphone is so damned slippery.

I berated Jony Ive (I sent him an email) and told him that the lack of a lanyard bracket was BS. (This was also when I was flying a lot to asia, and so many phones had lanyard brackets...

I think Ive gone through ~25 phones? I have a stack of several right here: https://i.imgur.com/QvODonY.jpeg - plus the one I took the pic with...

I think I have several more strewn about my tech graveyard...

What sucks is that I have called phone repair places what to do with them all, and they say they are all worthless.

"Throw them out"

I just feel bad for all those kids in China who died at the assembly line to make these worthless products requiring suicide nets. (Thats not a joke, that is really fn sad that people at Flextronics (who use to build a bunch of stuff for Lockheed as well) just killed themselves.)

(Oh and I had a MBP that was under recall for battery fires, CATCH fire in my bed when I was asleep...

It was also an AirBNB and I woke upto my MBP on fire.

Apple held it for two months, then even though the machine was under recall for fire, refused to replace it telling me I had the option to buy a new machine at full price.

They claimed that a moisture sensor went off so warranty (and recall) void.

it took them TWO months to make that statement and try to get me to buy a new machine.

you are specifically the person who should get a case. Or wipe your hands or something? This is an absurdly high rate of breaking phones. no one here has any incantations or runes that will safeguard you from physics

Or you could make them even thinner and accelerate sales of new devices as you inevitably bend them and its cheaper to just buy a new one.

This makes it sound like companies like Apple and Samsung are not trying to increase battery life, which is absolutely untrue.

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