- Hey YouTube, I'm Jerry
and I have a case on my iPhone 11 Pro,
which I removed the other day to give it a good cleaning.
Every time I remove my phone from a case, I remember
how slim and sleek it is to hold and play with.
Cases give a phone a completely different personality,
and it's hard to believe
that anyone actually likes the feel of them better.
Cases are a big business.
In 2018 and 19, there were about 1.5 billion phones sold
in the world.
And the protective phone cover market was
about $21.4 billion in 2018.
Now, if you divide that by an average
of around $12 per case that comes
to around 1.8 billion cases
or more cases than phones sold in the year.
In fact, I find it jarring.
Every time I see someone in public
without a case, I can't help but wonder,
what would it be like to be so bold?
With all this new time at home, I started
to ask myself, "Should I go caseless in 2020?"
(upbeat music)
So, why do people use cases?
I think the biggest reason is protection from damage.
Our phones today are more expensive than ever
with some approaching $1,500 or more.
That is quite an investment.
But to me, not surprising for a device
that we use far more than anything else in our daily lives.
But when we spent a lot of money
on something, we wanna keep it protected
from everything we can.
Not only our phone's expensive upfront,
but if we do damage a phone,
then the cost of repairs can be equally expensive
at hundreds of dollars or more for a screen repair
or device replacement.
Listen, I'm not a doomsday prepper or anything,
but there are hard rough surfaces everywhere.
We are mostly stuck at home these days,
but just inside your house,
you will probably find hard surfaces
that will destroy your phone
like countertops, tile floors, stairs, concrete.
It's no wonder that people want to slap a $6 piece
of rubber on their phone to keep it
from an inanimate beating.
Maybe I'm being paranoid,
but I have never had a screen crack
or had to replace a phone due to damage.
Now, one moment while I knock on some wood.
(loud banging)
The other reason
that people want a case is for personalization.
If you just search "insert phone name" case
in Google or Amazon, you will find hundreds
of options ranging all over
in color design, material, and personality.
If you want a pink sparkle case, you can find it.
Or maybe you want a pink sparkle case
that can also be your wallet.
You can find thick cases, slim cases, clear cases,
printed cases, silicone cases, hard cases.
You can find cases with dogs.
You can find cases with cats.
You can find purple panda cases.
You can find plush cases, battery cases,
and even cases with kickstands and finger rings.
Whatever it is that you want your phone
to look like, chances are you can find it.
I tend to stick to simpler designs for my cases.
But I can look back to my first cases bought on Amazon
in 2012, starting with the iPhone 5.
I have purchased over 40 cases since then,
including for iPhones, Galaxies, Pixels, Motorolas
and Nexus, Nexus, Nexuses, Nexuses?
I mostly bought them for protection,
but some of them were for bold colors or features.
Now, there are some people out there
who can't stand the idea of slapping a case
on the beautiful, expensive, new toy.
So what is the case against cases?
I think people just want to see the design.
Tech companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars
on designing a beautiful, thin device.
They go over every detail, how they look
and how they feel in the hand,
and some people just want to be able to appreciate
and experience the phone as it was meant to be.
I can't blame them.
I have always been envious of the people willing
to go caseless, and I think of the age
of modern full screen devices
and the prevalence of swiping gestures,
there is no better response between your finger
and the screen than when naked.
Your phone, that is.
So, if you are in the camp of someone
who would like to go caseless,
but is having trouble getting around the idea
of losing that protection, here are a couple ways to do it.
First, don't be clumsy.
I know.
That is better said than done,
and accidents are called accidents for a reason,
but hear me out.
There are a couple things you could do
to reduce the risk of damaging your phone
while out in the world, like don't use it
while you are walking.
This seems obvious.
Just use your phone when you are stationary,
and when you can devote your attention
to that expensive marvel of engineering.
You know that there is nothing more important
than checking that notification or responding
to a Twitter troll at that moment,
and your phone deserves your full attention, right?
This should include when going up
and downstairs, getting out of the car,
and waiting in line.
But listen, I know we are not animals
and none of what I just said is possible,
so that brings us to the second option, insurance.
In lieu of a case, you could pony up monthly
for a protection plan from Apple, Samsung,
or a wireless carrier and freeball it all day long.
Sure.
It is more expensive than buying a case,
but can you really put a price
on the enjoyment you get when whipping out a smooth metal
and glass sandwich and swiping to your heart's content?
Maybe, because if you drop it, you
could find yourself forking over 80
or a hundred dollars or more for repairs,
and repairs in today's crisis could be hard to come by.
The third way to go caseless is to not care.
Resign yourself to the fact
that you will probably drop your phone
at some point when you are least expecting it,
and enjoy the memories that the marks make.
So there it is.
Cases offer protection and personalization,
but hide the natural beauty of the hardware
as it was designed.
You can cover your expensive, new toy
with plastic, rubber, glitter, and accessories
or you can bare it all and risk everything
by letting your phone flap in the wind.
Either way, at some point, your phone
will unexpectedly leave your hands
and hit a surface that was not meant
for polished metal and glass.
Will you be sighing relief, cursing the gods,
or laughing about it later?
For me, I still can't decide.
So, let me know in the comments what you think I should do.
Should I risk it all for the best
of swiping experience or keep my baby wrapped
in silicone and enjoy perfection only when sitting
on the couch.
Thanks for watching my new video today.
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(upbeat music)