Why has no company made a metal back for their phone?

[7412]

We've had plastic, glass and ceramic. With the trend of boxy, industrial design, why don't smartphone manufacturers go for an full aluminum design?

Are there practical reasons? Heat? Signals? Price?

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, 7412 said:

We've had plastic, glass and ceramic. With the trend of boxy, industrial design, why don't smartphone manufacturers go for an full aluminum design?

Are there practical reasons? Heat? Signals? Price?

Probably price.

 

[Drama Lama]

Wireless Charging ( maybe )

 

also so just as an example : doesn’t  the  IPhone 6 have a metall body?

 

Edited July 7, 2020 by Drama Lama
added an example

[Spotty]

Moved to Phones & Tablets.

 

There have been phones with aluminium backs. It seems they've lost popularity recently as they don't work with wireless charging and (I'm assuming) higher cost compared to plastic backs.

[Stargaze obama]

3 minutes ago, 7412 said:

We've had plastic, glass and ceramic. With the trend of boxy, industrial design, why don't smartphone manufacturers go for an full aluminum design?

Are there practical reasons? Heat? Signals? Price?

Mostly a trend, most premium phones require a surface that allows for wireless charging, metals don't allow this as well as a scratching easily, it's more about how premium a product is than it's practical use, hence companies using ceramic backs over glass, just so you can say, yeah I have a ceramic back phone, it sounds more expensive and premium.

 

Google so far is the only company to stay away from this the best they can, they tried to keep it simple on the pixel 2 but ofc people whined about it, the pixel 5 is supposed to be more about practical use than performance, check the specs, I might upgrade from my pixel if leaks are true, I find it frustrating that people 'need" all these dumb features

[EL02]

I think the xiaomi mi 5 plus and pro had a metal back

[TehDwonz]

13 minutes ago, 7412 said:

We've had plastic, glass and ceramic. With the trend of boxy, industrial design, why don't smartphone manufacturers go for an full aluminum design?

Are there practical reasons? Heat? Signals? Price?

Metal would interfere with radio waves - there have been some, but the area where the antennas are tends to be glass or plastic. An all metal back wouldn't be too sensible tbh, and as others have said, negates wireless charging.

[Stargaze obama]

1 minute ago, huilun02 said:

Aluminium back phones were common in 2015-2017

 

I had a Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro, Redmi Note 4, and OnePlus 3T which were all aluminium. No signal issues.

 

Now glass is the standard. Its a cheaper material and easier to smash, so that users hopefully buy more new phones. 

 

The wireless charging argument is false because most phones don't have wireless charging. And glass is not a particularly good heat conductor either.

 

I want phones to be metal again.

Most phones now do have wireless charging, even some mid range devices have it, and reverse wireless charging is becoming more common

 

I seem to have a few signal issue with my pixel which is half glass aluminum, and I know pixels aren't the most reliable but I do think the aluminum back could be playing a part, also I find the glass to get much warmer than the aluminum body, I know the chip is under the glass but glass isn't too bad, phones usually use the whole body and screen as heat transfer

[Lord Vile]

56 minutes ago, 7412 said:

We've had plastic, glass and ceramic. With the trend of boxy, industrial design, why don't smartphone manufacturers go for an full aluminum design?

Are there practical reasons? Heat? Signals? Price?

Um... iPhone 5 through 7?

[7412]

59 minutes ago, Stargaze obama said:

it's more about how premium a product is than it's practical use, hence companies using ceramic backs over glass, just so you can say, yeah I have a ceramic back phone, it sounds more expensive and premium.

"Hey, I have an amazing ceramic back! Just...wait a sec...let me remove my case so I can show it ta ye...Roight, one second...There it is! See? Premium right? Well, that's enough for today, time to get the damn thing back into the case!"

 

Yup. Just amazing.

 

47 minutes ago, Stargaze obama said:

Most phones now do have wireless charging

Such a fancy feature. I'd rather have a solid back that won't break if it's dropped once than a gimmick like this.

 

13 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

Um... iPhone 5 through 7?

Not an iPhone user, I was not aware of this. Thank you for letting me know.

[Stargaze obama]

19 minutes ago, 7412 said:

"Hey, I have an amazing ceramic back! Just...wait a sec...let me remove my case so I can show it ta ye...Roight, one second...There it is! See? Premium right? Well, that's enough for today, time to get the damn thing back into the case!"

 

Yup. Just amazing.

 

Such a fancy feature. I'd rather have a solid back that won't break if it's dropped once than a gimmick like this.

 

Not an iPhone user, I was not aware of this. Thank you for letting me know.

I'm not saying you literally go up to somebody to tell them you have a ceramic back, but if somebody asks you or something makes the person feel better, and wireless charging was a gimmick, now it's getting pretty useful, I haven't used it for my phone but my ear buds use it and my brothers phone, and you can just put it on and no wires or anything in the way, also wireless chargers in development that mount to your ceiling, so you could be sat in a room and just charge your phone whilst you use it, I imagine once it's refined public places will use it, and once it's powerful enough things like your kettle could just boil anywhere in you house, just move a tv to another room and put it on a table, no need to plug it in, lamp too bright over there, no problem just move it wherever you want, wireless charging is becoming very good, especially how fast it's gotten

[Kc7vwc]

4 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Aluminium back phones were common in 2015-2017

 

I had a Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro, Redmi Note 4, and OnePlus 3T which were all aluminium. No signal issues.

 

Now glass is the standard. Its a cheaper material and easier to smash, so that users hopefully buy more new phones. 

 

The wireless charging argument is false because most phones don't have wireless charging. And glass is not a particularly good heat conductor either.

 

I want phones to be metal again.

Motorola had a few too. G5s+ had it & I enjoyed the feel of that device. 

[Zodiark1593]

3 hours ago, huilun02 said:

You missed his point

The gimmick is having a glass back just for the sake of having a glass back

 

No one has a problem with the glass back if the phone supports wireless charging

But on phones with no wireless charging, the glass back is nothing but a disadvantage

Aesthetically, glass is more resistant to scratching than common metals used for phones. Even with a case, dirt and debris can find it’s way in a case. Otherwise I agree. 

[7412]

15 minutes ago, Zodiark1593 said:

Aesthetically, glass is more resistant to scratching than common metals used for phones.

Would you rather have a scratched phone, or...a broken phone? 

 

Glass backs do look nicer, but...since you need to wear an ugly case to make up for the fragility, the aesthetic is ruined anyway.

[Stargaze obama]

2 hours ago, 7412 said:

Would you rather have a scratched phone, or...a broken phone? 

 

Glass backs do look nicer, but...since you need to wear an ugly case to make up for the fragility, the aesthetic is ruined anyway.

Just don't drop it, I switch between cases and no case and I rarely drop it, also glass is durable and the chances of your display cracking are the same as your display cracking, only apple makes back glass repair difficult, most other phones you can swap yourself, I did my brothers s8 plus with a heat gun and pry tools, I don't understand why you so concerned, cases can look pretty nice, I'm a fan of Googles fabric cases and they are fairly decent

[EL02]

57 minutes ago, Stargaze obama said:

Just don't drop it

Why didn't I think of that before?!!

[Johnny-Boi]

10 hours ago, Drama Lama said:

Wireless Charging ( maybe )

 

also so just as an example : doesn’t  the  IPhone 6 have a metall body?

 

yeah, i think the reason is that no one has tried since bendgate

[Zodiark1593]

7 hours ago, Stargaze obama said:

Just don't drop it, I switch between cases and no case and I rarely drop it, also glass is durable and the chances of your display cracking are the same as your display cracking, only apple makes back glass repair difficult, most other phones you can swap yourself, I did my brothers s8 plus with a heat gun and pry tools, I don't understand why you so concerned, cases can look pretty nice, I'm a fan of Googles fabric cases and they are fairly decent

While many a broken screen or back can be attributed to careless owners, even the most careful of people have the occasional accident.

 

At the same time, I appreciate my phone still looking nearly brand new even months/years later, owing to the scratch resistant glass.
 

Difficult choice.  

[Guest]

Apple did use metal backs on their phones from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 7.

I think the main reason why most companies use glass backs instead of metal backs is because of wireless charging.

[Stargaze obama]

7 hours ago, Zodiark1593 said:

While many a broken screen or back can be attributed to careless owners, even the most careful of people have the occasional accident.

 

At the same time, I appreciate my phone still looking nearly brand new even months/years later, owing to the scratch resistant glass.
 

Difficult choice.  

No point in really trying to keep as new looking as possible, the amount of care required isn't worth it since the phone will be worth half as much by the time you upgrade, I usually keep my phone 3-4 years maybe 5 so even if it was mint condition, nobody wants it, same with a 2 year old phone, technology moves fast and something like an s9 plus, still a usable phone, is rarely ever bought now because it's just old, I'm not the most careful and accidents do happen but I still drop mine rarely and it's usually a small drop, my brother has chipped the corner of his display with a piece of glass missing, since he's dropped it countless time on concrete ect and you'd think the micro cracks fr his chipped screen would've shattered his display by now, but it's fine, crack has stayed the same

[Commodus]

14 hours ago, TimeToAir said:

Apple did use metal backs on their phones from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 7.

I think the main reason why most companies use glass backs instead of metal backs is because of wireless charging.

It's not just that, it's also wireless reception.

 

Metal blocks LTE, WiFi and other wireless signals, so designers either need to make antenna lines (like the strips on the iPhone 6/6s/7) or use a different material for whole sections.  Glass, ceramic and plastic are permissive materials, so you can create an uninterrupted surface and get great reception.