You told us: Glass or plastic backs? Here's what flagship phones should use.

Glass has become a prevalent facade material on premium smartphones, but plastic remains a more durable option. While glass undoubtedly looks and feels better in hand, plastic is the better bet for cost-cutters and clumsy folk. But which material do you prefer manufacturers use on the back of flagship phones? We asked our readers in a recent poll, and the results are now in.

Do you prefer glass or plastic backs on flagship phones?

Results

This poll fell just short of 1,100 votes since it went live on December 20. According to the tally, the most popular material for flagship phone backs is glass, with 45.9% of the support. Plastic lagged with just 28.8% of the vote. Around a quarter of readers didn’t seem to care which material is used.

The slant towards glass largely makes sense. It’s is regarded as a more premium material, so naturally, flagship phone buyers would prefer getting their money’s worth. Plastic is generally associated with cheaper devices, but we still see the likes of Samsung utilize it on its pricier phones with the “glasstic” tag.

Notably, the results are consistent with a similar poll we ran back in July. However, metal received the lion’s share of the result on that occasion outweighing glass, plastic, and ceramic. That said, we didn’t limit that particular poll’s scope to flagships alone.

In terms of readers’ comments, there’s still plenty of support for plastic despite its loss in this poll.

Your comments

• Bruh: If I am paying a premium price then I deserved only the premium materials.
• busyman96: Do people actually want glass? In my experience, it makes the phone more slippery.
• Konrad Uroda-Darlak: Even worse material, meh. Polycarbonate > metal > cheap plastic > glass, it’s my opinion ofc.
• Shizuma: Great, back to the absolutely worst material for the back of phones because it “feels more premium”, which is a load of BS since it’s just glass, there’s nothing premium about glass, including how it feels, and no one feels it anyways since they cover it up with a case made from the least premium feeling plastics out there.
• Gumbopudding: I ALWAYS use a case so cheaper the material the better.
• vmxr: Plastic makes the phone feels cheap in hand even though you are paying premium price.

That’s it for this poll. Thanks for your votes and comments. If you have any additional thoughts, be sure to drop them below.