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It depends on what plastics we are talking about. Some plastics are designed to degrade in a few months (i.e certain plastic bags) while some last a lot longer.
Polycarbonate is used in a number of ways, not sure how the casing in the 5C has lasted, but since its being used in all from the aircraft industry to making blueray discs.

One other reason why it isn't used might be recycling, metals could be easier to recycle than a polycarbonate case.

Sure some of the more recent carrier bags are designed to be biodegradable and break down quickly but then you’re not going to use that type of plastic to make a phone are you!
 
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Sure some of the more recent carrier bags are designed to be biodegradable and break down quickly but then you’re not going to use that type of plastic to make a phone are you!
No, just made a point out of that all plastics aren't the same. Its all down to design and chemical compound.
 
Polycarbonate is such a good material for phones: strong, incredibly lightweight, durable, etc... I wish phone manufacturers got back into it. 😞
Except for scratch-resistance. Unless they opted for a less glossy finish, it would get horribly scuffed in a matter of weeks in one's pockets.
 
Seriously… why somebody would want a plastic iPhone ? 😳

I have to use a plastic case on my iPhone because now even the back is too darned fragile.

Besides, we're talking about the iPhone SE. It's the "cheap" iPhone anyway. Those wanting a "premium feel" can always go with the regular or Pro iPhones.
 
Steve Jobs introduced it as such. It was a success.

The OG iPhone 2G actually had a mostly aluminum back with a strip of plastic at the bottom for the antenna. It was the iPhone 3G and 3GS that had all plastic back. I never used a case with my OG and 3GS.
 
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Worth noting that polycarbonate is easy to scratch, does not conduct heat well, is difficult to recycle, has poor resistance to chemicals and has a terrible thermal expansion coefficient. Anything but that please.
 
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I have to use a plastic case on my iPhone because now even the back is too darned fragile.

Besides, we're talking about the iPhone SE. It's the "cheap" iPhone anyway. Those wanting a "premium feel" can always go with the regular or Pro iPhones.
A plastic case is an external shell.
Plastic scratches easily and has very bad thermal properties.
The iPhone SE still is a €500/600 device, not a €150 cheap Android phone
Lots of people want lots of things which you do not. That is life.
We are speaking about smartphones, not “a lot of things”.
 
Polycarbonate is such a good material for phones: strong, incredibly lightweight, durable, etc... I wish phone manufacturers got back into it. 😞
It scratches to easily. Also there would not be any MagSafe accessories for it. Glass is so much better. But if this wish is for the non pro models…. Then go for it. Otherwise I would vote against pro models using polycarbonate
 
Not more than the AirPod cases. I’d prefer the matte finish they used for the MagSafe battery pack though.
Yeah, I think matte would be the only way to pull it off. My AirPods case has quite a bit of light scuffing all over it, but it's also small so I don't think it stands out as much is it would on the much larger back surface of an iPhone.
 
Would be really cool, but its very time consuming and expensive to produce and not very environmental friendly. The same goes for recycling.
Better than plastic! 99.9% of plastic is never recycled or recyclable. That’s what is the non-fancy term for polycarbonate. Haha
 
It scratches to easily. Also there would not be any MagSafe accessories for it. Glass is so much better. But if this wish is for the non pro models…. Then go for it. Otherwise I would vote against pro models using polycarbonate
But it is currently preferred to use polycarbonate instead of glass for eyeglasses
 
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