Three Years Later: The Evolution of My iPhone Revealed - A Comprehensive Review

From a distance, it looks pretty, no?

Chris Matyszczyk/ZDNET

I admit it’s been something of a crusade.

Over here are companies making gloriously gorgeous phones and over there is the majority of the world putting cases on them to cover up their essential pulchritude.

Please, I understand why you use a case. You fear you might drop it. You fear it might smash on the ground. You fear there’ll be repair costs. In essence, you just don’t trust yourself.

Also: The best iPhone 15 cases

However, every time Tim Cook and his cohorts present a new iPhone, they never wrap it in cotton wool. Or, well, dull-colored plastic.

Is there a chance, then, that you could risk the true beauty of your phone being exposed to the outside world?

Apple itself has hinted it’d like you to . So now here I am to show you what happens to your iPhone if you simply toss your caution to the breezes and decide to, well, live a little.

Newsletters

ZDNET Tech Today

ZDNET’s Tech Today newsletter is a daily briefing of the newest, most talked about stories, five days a week.

Subscribe

See all

I bought my blue iPhone 12 three years ago. I never put a case on it. Indeed, I’ve never put a case on any phone I’ve ever owned.

When it comes to using the phone or storing it, I either sit it next to me while I’m working or, when I’m going out, I slip it into my pocket. Never the back pocket, always the side pocket.

I generally hold my phone in my right hand, so I put the phone in my right-hand pocket, not considering which way it might be facing.

Also: These new iPhone screen protector kits make applying one so much easier

Yes, I’ve dropped it more than once. No, it’s never smashed, but wear and tear have appeared – though in interesting, perhaps incomprehensible places.

Here, then, is what it looks like after three perfectly functional years.

In the interest of extreme objectivity, I decided not even to attempt taking cleverly disguised photos of my phone. Instead, I asked my wife to use her Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 -- yes, she keeps it in a case – and present my phone, blemishes be cursed, as she sees it.

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links

If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

It’s rough at the top

The greatest signs of decay are at the upper rear of the phone. You may theorize why. I have little idea.

Perhaps I always put the phone into my pocket with the top side facing down, but even that wouldn’t exactly explain why that top side – at the rear not the front, should have lost quite some luster.

It’s not as if I keep rocks at the bottom of my pocket. It’s not as if I throw my phone so that it lands first on its top side. For fun, you understand.

The paint has scraped off.

Chris Matyszczyk/ZDNET

Taking sides?

The sides have suffered a little too, but not evenly.

The left side – with the screen facing toward me – has struggled to retain its pristine sheen. The right side has barely a scratch.

It’s worn down.

Chris Matyszczyk/ZDNET

I’ve (occasionally) wondered why. Is there something I do to exacerbate this bias? I can’t immediately think of anything, but perhaps I have some unconscious habit that forces the left side of my phone to suffer far more than the right.

Strangely smooth.

Chris Matyszczyk/ZDNET

The bottom line? Not much of one

You might imagine, though, that the bottom might have suffered a similar degradation to the top. But it hasn’t. It’s in relatively fine condition.

It’s not as if I’m selective about which side touches some other material and which one doesn’t.

So the rich mystery of caseless phone ownership continues, with who knows how many nuances to come?

Not much of a scratch there.

Chris Matyszczyk/ZDNET

You can do it. Yes, you can.

I don’t believe I’ve treated my iPhone as anything other than a vital tool in my endless quest for human survival.

I’ve neither coddled it nor pandered to it.

My car has scratches too.

Also: CES 2024: 3 trends to watch as we learn what’s next in tech

At heart, I still find cases so distressingly lacking in the looks factor that I soldier on, allowing fate to impact my phone in any way it chooses.

In any, um, case, isn’t one supposed to celebrate one’s scars rather than conceal them?

I may not have persuaded you to release your phone from its captivity. I may have persuaded you never to consider getting your phone out of your case, even for a special occasion.

I’m here, though, to be helpful, in my own little way.

Sometimes it’s worth exposing your blemishes and letting people see you – and your gadgets – in their natural state.

Featured

Why I’m recommending the standard iPhone 16 over the Pro this year (and I’m not alone)

Is OneDrive messing with your files? How to get your Windows storage under control

Best early Prime Day deals under $50 to shop in October 2024

Rust in Linux now: Progress, pitfalls, and why devs and maintainers need each other

• Why I’m recommending the standard iPhone 16 over the Pro this year (and I’m not alone)
• Is OneDrive messing with your files? How to get your Windows storage under control
• Best early Prime Day deals under $50 to shop in October 2024
• Rust in Linux now: Progress, pitfalls, and why devs and maintainers need each other

Also read: