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Comment by jimnotgym | Hacker News Reader

I always have a little chuckle when I see people holding a tiny delicate smartphone in a massive fat case to protect it from the damage it will inevitably take in normal use. I always think that it would have been better if they had just made the phone itself a little tougher!

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Cases are an ablative layer of protection, you can’t get the same thing by making larger phone of some uniform material.

Young kids can go through multiple cases each of which look like they have been run over, but it’s relatively common for adults to replace a case.

I'm not a native speaker, I tried googling and translating and still did not get what "ablative" means. Do you mind explaining like I'm 5 what does it mean please..

I think they meant in the sense of it being worn away and destroyed as an intended use.

Adjective definition 3 from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ablative

Thank you, this page is much more informative than default google's definition of this word!

> Ablation (Latin: ablatio – removal) is the removal or destruction of something from an object by vaporization, chipping, erosive processes, or by other means. Examples of ablative materials[clarification needed] are described below, including spacecraft material for ascent and atmospheric reentry, ice and snow in glaciology, biological tissues in medicine and passive fire protection materials.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablation

The poster is saying that a case can wear out and be replaced without damage to the phone. You can let the case take all the damage, then get a new one. But if you let a phone take all the damage (even if it's a tougher phone), you can't remove that damage.

Thank you! I just searched for "ablative" and ended up on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablative_case which confused me even more hehe

It's good to have a choice. I know I'm going to drop my phone from time to time, and sometimes it will be onto a hard surface, so I always get a case. I once managed to shatter the back glass while it was in a case, not sure how I managed that. Other people may be less clumsy, or more tolerant of living with damage, or more willing to pay for insurance or replacements.

It's also nice to be able to choose a texture. In my latest iteration, I got Apple's techwoven case, and I really like the feel compared to the usual silicone stuff, or bare metal. The texture also makes it easier to grip so maybe I'll drop it less. I can hope.

The phones are incredibly tough, I have never used a case and I've only cracked my screen once and that was like 8 years ago.

And then worry about what colour they are going to buy while not a single picometre of that colour is visible in many cases.

funny thing - every 2 years gorilla glass creates a tougher one. and the phone makers then make the glass thinner, thus erasing the durability gain

I haven't had a screen break in almost a decade now. I do buy flagship phones. So I don't think we need to make glass anymore thicker. But I also use screen protectors, and I had maybe 1 break in the last 10 years.

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