Samsung Explains Why It Will Continue To Use Plastic For Galaxy S IV

(6:00 am PDT, Mar 6th)

Samsung-Galaxy-Note-II

Samsung has launched some of the post popular Android handsets of all time, with its Galaxy S series — which includes the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy S III — selling more than 100 million units. But the devices certainly aren’t popular for their build quality.

All of Samsung’s devices are made of plastic, and although they look good, they don’t feel anywhere near as nice as competing handsets like the iPhone 5, the Nexus 4, and any of HTC’s high-end Android handsets — particularly the new HTC One — which use materials like glass and aluminum to provide a premium feel.

But Samsung isn’t about to change that for the upcoming Galaxy S IV. The Korean company has confirmed it will continue to use plastic, and it has its reasons for doing so.

Explaining its love of plastic to CNET, Samsung’s YH Lee, executive vice president of the mobile business, said it doesn’t just take into account how a device will look when it’s designing it, but also how quickly and efficiently it can be manufactured.

Samsung knows it’s going to sell millions of units, and it wants to ensure it can make them quick enough, and that its customers aren’t made to wait. Perhaps customers wouldn’t have to wait up to a month for a new iPhone if Apple chose to make that out of plastic — but we know the Cupertino company would rather make us wait than sacrifice build quality.

Lee also said that there are other pros and cons Samsung takes into account, such as removable back that allows for a replaceable battery. This is a feature that’s started dying out on modern smartphones as certain manufacturers look to avoid plastic, but Samsung has been maintaining it.

Then there’s durability. Lee argued that the plastic covers are more durable because they bend and absorb more impact — though I’m not sure a plastic Galaxy S III would survive a fall better than the aluminum iPhone 5 or HTC One.

In fact, the plastic phones I’ve owned in recent years — which all happen to be Samsung devices (Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, and Galaxy Nexus) — all scratched easily and didn’t fair well when dropped.

Plastic clearly works for Samsung, though, and it’s not going to stop using it anytime soon.

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  • matt

    That is stupid, the iphone 4,4S,5 are all very very nicely build phones that look and feel great and high quality, and they are the best selling phones in history, Samsung saying they use plastic because the phones will sell fast and they need to keep us is just idiotic. Plastic is not stronger then other materials, every samsung phone ive has scratched and chipped easily. My best experiences were with phones made of metal and better grade materials. My OG Droid and Droid 3 had metal faces and the Droid had a metal Back cover. They still work to this day, My old Tmobile HTC G2 with a metal face and back still looks and works great. The only phone out of the Families many smart phones that is Weathering from use is my sisters Mytouch 4G slide, ,made out of all glossy plastic and its 6 months in to use and its chipped and ugly. From that statement, it looks like ill be passing on another Galaxy S device, not at all attracted to glossy uneven reflective plastic.

About the author

Killian BellKillian Bell is a freelance writer based in the UK. He has an interest in all things tech and also writes for TechnoBuffalo. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell, or through his website.

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