My old $250 Motorola G9 Power phone lasted almost 4 years with only very minor scratches. Obviously in that period I have dropped it a few times, especially getting out of the car, where the phone sometimes work itself out of my pant pocket while I drive. But no problem, despite cheap plastic back and Panda glass front.
Then I bought my $800 glass back Xiaomi 13T Pro in January, and I loved the phone for the camera and good specs. But alas after only 4 months, and single drop of just 30 cm while sitting on the porch, the glass back immediately cracked! The back now looks like an ugly mess, and the high water resistance is very likely gone too.
For sure the last time I buy a phone with a glass back!!!
I wonder why it’s so popular, and I curse the media for reviewing the Samsung Galaxy S2 as “feeling a bit cheap”, because the back was synthetic, and drop tests showed it was 10 times as durable as the iPhone with its glass back.
Samsung did it right in the beginning, glass backs are a curse.
PS: I don’t use condoms for my phones, if they need that for daily use, it’s an obvious design flaw!!!
Anecdotally, I used to have an aluminum and plastic phone (HTC Evo) with no case. I didn’t abuse it, but one of the few times I dropped it, the screen shattered. Since then I’ve had other phones, most with glass backs, and all have had rubber-edged cases. No screen shatters (though the back of one of them did crack). And I’ve definitely been less gentle with them.