The Google Pixel 5 bucked the trend of glass-backed phones earlier this year, featuring a “bio-resin” (plastic) material atop metal for the rear cover. It’s a rather interesting approach to smartphone design, with Google also cutting a hole in the metal layer to enable wireless charging.
Our own Eric Zeman felt confident enough to use the Pixel 5 without a case, but he recently noticed that a fall on gravel resulted in the phone having tiny gouges in the plastic material. But how has the phone’s plastic back fared in your experience? That’s what he asked last week. Here’s how you voted.
How has your Pixel 5’s plastic skin fared in drops?
Results
Over 4,300 votes were tallied in our poll as of writing, giving us a great sample size to work with. And almost 47% of respondents say their Pixel 5’s plastic back is looking just fine after drops.
Meanwhile, just over 41% of polled readers say they use a case on their smartphone. So there shouldn’t be damage to the plastic-clad rear cover in the event of an accidental drop.
More Google coverage: Everything you need to know about Google hardware
Finally, 11.6% of respondents say their Pixel 5’s plastic back is slightly chipped or damaged after dropping the phone. We’re not quite sure if that’s a big number compared to other devices, but many people would probably prefer a slightly chipped plastic back cover to a glass back with a spiderweb crack.
It’s also interesting to note that several users have reported damaged screens as a result of drops rather than rear cover damage. If anything, this suggests that the plastic back is more resilient in these situations.
Comments
- Guillaume Vertefeuille: I never use a case, the phone itself is already in a case as we dont just hold up the boards and cpu! My phone hold up just fine! Only scratches are near the USB plug where I see the resin wear off slowly.
- Mike Swanson: I have a slim clear Spigen case to show of the mint green. Still looks brand new.
- King Serafin: Naked when at home, dressed up when out and about… I’m talking about my Pixel 5 lolz
- Denna: I used it without a case and the screen completely broke after falling onto asphalt. I had to buy a new screen (which cost a fortune) and now I have a case.
- TurboFool: A couple small chips around the edge, but the color is embedded in the coating so they’re not visible if you aren’t looking for them. I love that I can use this phone without a case. I have one for only when I’m in a very active situation.
- Kellen Wallis: Just took my case off to see after reading this. Mine looks great, had a Spigen case since day one.
- tim worley: No case, no issues. Best phone I’ve ever had.
- Aimee Blayney: I got a Pixel 5 a month or so ago. I put the Google recommended case on it right away and a screen protector. That day I dropped it less than a foot for the first time and the phone cracked already. I called Google and they won’t do anything about it. So disappointed in this model. My last Google phone had no issues whatsoever.
- that one guy: I’ve been amazed at the resilience of this phone, I have a plastic basic OtterBox case I use sometimes… the phone feels too good in my hands without it though and it’s easy to remove so I have dropped it numerous times with and without the case. That said you’d never know it’s been dropped before, there aren’t even microscopic scratches on the screen 9 months in
- Vulpes: I dropped mine badly on rough concrete. It only got a couple of chips down near the bottom on either side and a very small one at the top side. The thing is, all the chips are still black despite being around 1mm deep. They’re not at all noticeable because of this. Very happy overall.
- : Can’t believe people don’t slap a case on? £28 well spent.
That’s it for our latest poll results article, thanks for voting and for leaving a comment! What do you make of these results?