Let me just offer my .02 on the topic.
Samsung is criticized for using polycarbonate which, in actuality, is an extremely high quality material. Many of you refer to it as being plastic but, it's not. Well, it is but like I said very high quality. An argument can be made as to whether it should be in the plastic category.
Remember, polycarbonate is 300 times stronger than what people are calling plastic. They aren't the same. Plastic in and of itself is cheap. Polycarbonate is not. The manufacturing aspect of producing polycarbonate designs or making changes is where the savings is. Aluminum factories cannot make design changes nearly as easily. Samsung produces many differently designed devices, it would be a HUGE challenge for them to produce the quantities, shapes, and yearly redesign changes by using aluminum. It's nearly impossible from a manufacturing perspective. So, they did what makes sense in using g a material that can meet the needs of high production, redesign, and quality.
I think if people actually understood better, the properties of polycarbonate then, there wouldn't be a need to discuss its use on devices. Many probably don't know polycarbonate is tougher than kevlar..... And on a side note the galaxy 2 does not use polycarbonate backing it's plastic . Samsung started using poly with the S3...
Hopefully, some of you have a better insight on polycarbonate and understand it's not a cheap material and has very high quality properties . Again, the manufacturing costs are where the savings comes in. For example there is no paint shop needed, polycarbonate is a solid color when produced. So black is black all the way thru. Same as white etc etc...
I hope this helps to clear up some misunderstandings about plastic and polycarbonate.
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